Follow Me Down
by KaceyS
Summary: Everybody's got something to hide, I think. We walk around with masks that bind our smiles and cut off our oxygen. Mysterious. Straight. Perfect. Unfeeling. Content. But masks break. The battle lies in accepting the facets of humanity we find underneath. [alternate universe] review for more
1. Chapter 1

The rattle echoed through the tunnel, followed immediately by the fizz of a spray can. The fumes wafted. Her nose wrinkled and she threw her hood off to shake her platinum blonde hair free. She rolled her right hand and wiggled her hips before stretching her arms. The artist was almost finished with this mural but a sliver of anticipation tickled her neck and slid down her spine.

She was strokes from perfecting her image when the sound of footsteps started echoing. Clenching her muscles, she dropped the can she was using into a bag right underneath her. She hastily picked up another can, scribbling her signature tag, throwing that into her backpack as police puffed, 'Hey! Stay where you are!'

Zipping it up she threw her bag on and started making haste in the other direction. She was at the mouth of the overpass and into The Isle City, moving bullet-fast as she evaded the authority. They were still on her tail when her options started limiting themselves. If she was going to escape, she was going to have to start climbing.

She sped into an alley and started ascending the fire escape. The police started climbing once she had reached the third floor. When she was on the sixth she had to climb up the building in order to reach the rooftop. Chest heaving she pulled herself up the side, rolled and started sprinting for the other end of the structure. The police were just pulling themselves up when she was at the edge of the roof. There was a huge jump between this building and the next one. If she didn't make it, she'd probably die when she hit the ground.

The taggist grinned as she readied herself to leap. The police yelled for her to stop, but she was already soaring through the air. Time stopped and she was one with the clouds as the adrenaline pumped through her veins like pistons. Her landing was rough and awkward, but when she steadied herself and got up the police were standing on the edge of the other building and yelling obscenities.

"We'll get you next time, Witch!"

* * *

**{Naminé BGM}** Kanye West - _No Church in the Wild featuring. Frank Ocean & Jay-Z_

I remember the last time I was comfortable as myself with intense clarity. I was thirteen years old, a budding artist, moving on from copying pictures of Crash Bandicoot and imitating Picasso to find my own style. I'd been a fan of steampunk and contrasting feminine elements with masculine influences. I loved limiting the colour schemes. I enjoyed adding swirls, and crosshatching, and delicate spidery designs. Art was a form of self-expression, and less of a way to vent my frustrations.

What hung on the back of my door now was the first artwork I'd managed to get in an actual gallery. It was slightly cartoonish, but more grown-up than anything I'd managed to produce before. It was of a girl sitting behind a window, wearing a white dress, and a rib cage created from the spindly, spidery claws of black-purple mist. She was sitting in the middle of a lavish white room, its walls _covered_ in places she had only dreamed of visiting. The girl in the painting had never experienced the warmth of a sunset, the glory of the ocean, the beauty of seashells, or the content happiness of friendship. The image itself was called Dusk. No one at the gallery had managed to figure out what it meant, but Naminé did. It was what the girl was staring at, all the time, every day, stuck in a world of perpetual twilight. She wanted to see what night and day looked like, but she couldn't. It was like being stuck in purgatory.

I can't quite remember what compelled me to create it, but it might have had something to do with learning to play the flute, and how the music came out better than when it was blown in.

Everyone's gone through it right? An art lesson, or an English class, where your teachers find a myriad of hidden meanings, and _specific_ messages constructed of different brush strokes and a few fancy similes. I _hated_ those lessons, because at the time I was terrible with case studies. I thought they were stupid. My mindset was more along the lines of 'Why can't the curtains be blue, because they're fucking blue. Can't the writer detail something as simple as curtain colour without having their motives questioned?' I didn't _get_ that the teachers were actually on to something- well- not concerning curtain colour, but in character movement, in selected words, and paragraph construction. I didn't get that emotion fuelled the very way that artists did _everything,_ because the art and very creative function is written into their bones.

When I constructed this image I didn't paint with my own blood, sweat and tears, but someone else's. I'd seen the pain of my friends and acquaintances as they developed into people that hid behind lies and used it to fuel my inspirations. I feel that the main reason they resonated with my painting was because there were elements of it that corresponded to their own lives.

The gallery which showed my painting created a pamphlet, where my image fronted the section for junior entries, the only thing left behind in my comment section were my initials and a very old email that I am ashamed to admit involved my obsession with Bleach and Soul Eater at the time (something along the lines of nami-no-kami at hotmail dot com). And, I don't know if that was the worst or best decision of my life. There might have been a school of idiots that visited the gallery during that time, who all spammed me with dick pictures, or stupid chain emails that promised to rip my tongue out if I didn't send them on, but there were a few special people who were really inspired and amazed at my picture, and that made it all worthwhile.

I came into email correspondence with one boy, a special being that _could_ have been a forty-year-old man living in his mother's basement- but if he wasn't then he sounded like an amazing talent. He loved my picture. He sent me a song, inspired by my picture, that became the first in a long list of songs he created with his band, also named after my picture. I was so flattered. The boy, under the name 'Black Cat', eventually revealed himself to be Roxas Evans, a very handsome boy that went to my school, a fact I was completely shocked, ecstatic and petrified over. But he didn't know that. To him, I was an online persona under the signature 'Fauxame'.

We told each other a lot without actually _telling_ one another. He wanted to know what stemmed such a moving image, and I made it seem like these problems my friends were experiencing were something I was actually worried about. I was _so_ shallow. Roxas grew up believing that I was some kind of really depressed emo child. You don't understand the misconceptions he believes now. But the truth is… I am not dealing with my parents refusing to acknowledge my existence because of my gender, or sexuality. I'm not depressed. I'm not clinically insane. I'm not poor, or retarded, or lonely.

Well… maybe lonely, but definitely not to the extent that I require therapy of any kind. I was lonely in the way that my best friends were my sister, and her gay boy toy. I was lonely in a way that I was too awkward for real conversations, so I listened to imaginary music in order to avoid them. I was lonely in a way that I spoke to my pet fishes (Bacon and Gypsy) more than I did to people on a regular basis.

Over time Roxas became more popular, and really cool, and I just developed into a girl who couldn't- for the life of her- keep up a regular conversation. We stopped speaking, and in one foolish act of idiocy, I deleted my old email and created a newer, more mature one (ie. naminexdblanc at gmail dot com). Even though we had once been so close, I watched as he drifted away. The conversations between Fauxame and Black Cat became a distant memory. Even though I try to fight them off, my affections for him have only grown stronger, and I find facets of him in all of my paintings.

I had an email in my 'drafts' folder telling Roxas that this was my new email, and that if he wanted to keep talking to me, this was the one to use. But it didn't work. I didn't want him to know this was the real me. My thoughts became muddled up, I abandoned my diary and turned to art. But at this time I was too shy to actually get myself another spot in an art gallery. Fighting for fancy spots in a nice, clean museum was definitely too much work, so I turned to the streets.

Around the time my older sister, Aqua, went to fight in The Midgar War, my mom was asked to take care of our cousin, Prompto, who introduced me to the amazing art of parkour. If I had to describe it in one sentence, I'd say 'It's the closest humans come to flying'. I was completely determined to learn this sport so I could reach tagging heights that others couldn't. Prompto was the first one to learn that by night I ran around to scribble my signature and personal style all over Destiny Capitol.

I remember him saying that my initials (N. D.) were definitely not enough to keep up a tagger's façade, I told him I used to go by 'Fauxame', but he made me think long and hard to see if this was what I wanted to be known as. Fauxame was something warm and personal, between Roxas and I. Did I want to share that with everyone else? Prompto brought together a lot of my artworks and looked for a collective theme. He saw how easily I manipulated reality until it was just something to be expected, like the slivers of Harry Potter that weaved into reader's lives.

From that moment on, he dubbed me Witch.

As I grew older the picture I didn't understand myself started to make more sense. The cage around people's hearts became stronger while at the same time disintegrating into delicacy. Their problems became my own because of my own growing compassion. These problems weren't trivial anymore, they were becoming _real_ issues.

Why wasn't my cousin Larxene allowed to dress the way 'he' wanted to? How come it wasn't okay for Sora to fall in love with boys? Why weren't mom and dad allowing Kairi to study hairdressing, make up, or fashion? Why _must_ I got to church without understanding _why_ I have to go? Why college? Why choose a _career_ in my teens when I still needed to ask my teachers if I could go to the bathroom?

Witch asked these questions, she answered them, she provoked thought, emotions, and inspired. Witch became the girl that I wanted to be. She asked what I couldn't, she dressed like I couldn't, and she attracted the attention that I couldn't. She was the sassier, sexier, more intelligent, more enchanting, more… _magical_ human than I could never be. And so she became my biggest curse.

Witch became my form of self expression while the strength of my voice as regular old Naminé tightened and died. The idea of Witch unfolded her wings and spread like wildfire. Witch was now a common name in the Destiny Capitol Underground. She became bigger than I would ever have imagined, and I don't know how to feel about that. I guess I really hated the irony that I could never become the entity that I was already.

In my search for answers to my subconscious painting, I became everything that my gallery picture now portrayed. On the way I created an imaginary creature that held more power than a real person ever could. Had I solved the problem or made it a thousand times worse? Before I created 'Dusk' I might have been happy as who I was, but that painting made real all the insecurities I was yet to face, and eventually, who I would become.

Everyone I know wears a kind of mask. Everyone has something to hide, I think. We walk around with masks that bind our smiles and cut off our oxygen. Mysterious. Straight. Perfect. Unfeeling. Content. But masks break. The battle lies in accepting the facets of humanity we find underneath.

Or… that might be something Witch would say.

* * *

**{Naminé BGM}** Marina & The Diamonds - _Teen Idle_

When I was a lot younger, I read a manga about a girl who put up a hell of a façade herself. It wasn't in the same way which I pulled my stunts; nerd by day, tagger by night, but pretty pink princess during the day, and gross tomboy by night.

The story 'Switch Girl' is about a girl who was a complete tomboy before she entered high school. Right before graduating elementary school, the boy she had been best friends with (and by friends, she meant flirting through wrestling, arm wrestling, insulting, etc.) started crushing on a cuter, more feminine girl. The boy she had been in love with (or whatever grandiose feelings resembling love you feel when you're a total of eleven years old) fell for a girl who was the complete opposite of what the protagonist was.

That apparently stung so hard that the heroine dedicated her life to becoming a gorgeous, fashion-savvy beauty queen. But after a while this sparkling image became tiring, and at night time she would revert back to her true self; a bargain-hunting, farting, bunned-up, sweatpant-clad, glasses-wearing disaster.

I should have realised long before elementary school finished that Kairi was going through the exact same thing. She used to be in a one-sided flirtationship with a hottie named Tidus, who has since moved to Besaid Village on the other side of The Destiny Isle. They used to fight a lot, meaning; she arm wrestled him into the ground and for some reason he got off on losing or something. He was a boy. She was a girl. Can I make it any more obvious?

A pretty girl called Yuna came along around fifth grade and completely entranced the kid. Kairi tried her best to charm him, but he was infatuated, enough so to follow her all the way to Besaid anyway. From there on out Kairi recreated her image in order to make sure she would never be heartbroken again. Her transformation was incredible. She grew out her hair, and worked all summer at the local markets for a new wardrobe. She watched beauty tutorial videos over and over again until she knew how to apply make up without looking like a clown (with her eyes closed, in the dark… twerking), and she even handed over her skateboard. That was a pretty tearful event. (Of course I wouldn't let her give it away. I had it. Taught myself how to ride it too.)

It was six o'clock in the morning on a Sunday and I was watching the transformation take place now. I was already set to go. I had on a long sleeved chiffon shirt and a black pencil skirt. What I was wearing was for squares, which is what I was when I wasn't Witch. I had to keep the difference as stark as possible, because if someone figured out that I was Witch- oh boy, I don't even want to think about the consequences.

Kairi was going all out as usual, sitting at her vanity with an opened Michelle Phan video attempting to imitate the 'Summer Getaway' look within the twenty minutes we had left before stepmom made us haul ass. Kairi was the personification of 'Go big or go home'.

"You know she doesn't like it when you wear make up to church," I said.

"There is always the possibility of running into someone we know there," Kairi replied. "Can you fishtail my hair? This concealer is being a bitch."

Kairi was my identical twin, but you wouldn't have guessed it from how differently we dressed and our different hair colours. We were both naturally blond. Kairi's hair was actually a lot darker than mine, but she started dying it red around eighth grade. Now it was a pretty burgundy-wine colour. We'd been blessed with Barbie-rivalling features; small noses, plump lips, heart-shaped faces and wide lake-eyes. But while Kairi flaunted how gorgeous she was, I hid myself behind my bangs and a pair of dark square-rimmed glasses.

I guess, I can't call myself ugly because Kairi and I are identical, but I _have_ to say she's prettier than me. She puts so much effort into her appearance. But it's also in the way she's so confident and flirtatious. She rocks what she wears, and the only time I feel happy in my clothes is when I'm chillin' at home in my pyjamas. The known Naminé dressed like a tool or a prep, with clothes that cover a lot of skin despite how much this killed me during the really, really hot days.

I really wished that I could show you what I looked like while I was Witch, I really do. But you're going to have to settle for Normal Naminé; brown contacts, brown wig and baggy, unflattering clothes. Of course our mother/father didn't think nor mind the fact that I was walking around in 'appropriate' clothing. They didn't know that I ran through the streets in barely a crop top whenever I was Witch. If _they _found out that I was an infamous, parkouring, street-art-enthusiast I'd be sent off to Departure Military School instantly. They'd threatened Kairi with it over and over.

Kairi exhaled loudly, smiling in triumph as she brushed her blush down, "Okay, now your turn, Naminé."

"No," I growled, tugging on her hair to get her to sit still. It had taken me three days to learn how to do a proper fishtail braid and I was going to do it right dammit.

My older sister was always trying pull her makeover rubbish on me while I was still Naminé.

"Oh, c'mon Naminé."

"I said no, Kai."

She was a hypocrite, and didn't believe keeping Witch a secret was a good idea. I didn't like it, but that's just the way it had to be. Besides, I had leverage. If she ever told anyone I was Witch, all I had to do was show them a few pictures of Kairi taken in her 'off mode' (sweatpants, bun, no make-up, glasses). It wouldn't do anything, but revenge didn't often serve a purpose anyway, it was purely for there for non-existent gratification. Sure, it wasn't exactly _mild _to wave evidence that would murder Kairi's position on the social hierarchy in her face, but what she had on me was definitely way bigger than any petty high school status quo.

I wasn't being dramatic, if my principle (evil Nazi bitch) found out who I was I'd definitely get expelled.

We both walked into the kitchen and dining room, and I moved to grab an apple off the table when my stepmother surged forward to slap my hand.

"Naminé," she scolded, "you know you have to fast before you attend The Lord's mass. We'll eat afterwards."

My mother's name was Aurora Beauty. She was our stepmom and hadn't married our father as of yet, but plans were in progress. She spent half of her day doing regular bridely duties. She was still kind-of dealing with her temperamental fresh-out-of-the-closet ex-husband Philip. She had seemed pretty chill at first; taking our sides in arguments and occasionally treating us to frozen yoghurt, but when we were fifteen she started pulling this overly-religious crap on us. Dad had never really believed in intense religious devotion, dedicating more focus on academics and college than he had ever shown The Church, but according to him, while he was gone, whatever Aurora said went. And he was _always_ gone.

It's like she had been born in the sixteenth century. Church. Clothes that covered almost all our skin. Being 'ladylike'. Little to no electronics. It drove us mad sometimes.

Kairi and I were practically still asleep when she forced us into the car. Kairi took the wheel and I sat shotgun while Aurora clambered in. There was no conversation and the only time I made noise was when I dug through Kairi's purse to find some gum strips. Even though she had been around for a good third of our lives, we were still particularly cautious about what we said around her. Even one slip up could rub her the wrong way.

We were driving under an overpass when we hit traffic, and Kairi tapped my shoulder. She pointed to my left. Painted on the side of the overpass was one of my bigger tags, slightly covered by scribbles of other graffiti artists, but still pushing through the designs with bold sunset colours and a feminine, intricate design.

"That's one of my favourite Witch tags," Kairi admitted. "It reminds me of Twilight Town."

Aurora turned her head and scoffed at the graffiti. "Kairi, you shouldn't concern yourself with the likes of someone like Witch. Illegal tagging is only going to get you in trouble."

I clenched my fists and breathed in slowly, blinking to keep my eyes from narrowing instinctively. You are now allowed to make every terrible assumption you can about her. Do you know how irritating it is to live with someone that hates half of who you are?

The corner of Kairi's lips quirked up, "Witch is a hurricane of inspiration for The Destiny Isle Underground. There's nothing wrong with admiring art, Aurora."

"Art?" she questioned. "If it's not on a canvas, or in a sculpture, it will never be art to me. Witch will get caught, and then she'll atone for her sins."

Kairi pulled into the church parking lot and Aurora got out, waiting for us to follow her. I motioned for her to go on ahead while Kairi fussed around with some components of her bag. While she wasn't looking I let out a roar and kicked the tires.

"I seriously can't sit through another one of these," I sighed, cooling down and turning my phone off.

"Don't worry," Kairi assured winking, "Remember? We have more chance of skipping once school starts. You better ready your excuses."

As I did every Sunday, I zoned out through everything that wasn't the homily, the Eucharist, or hymns, and thought about the glory of a stained glass mural. It was either that, or showing the public the ugliness in beautiful, yet desperate housewives.

* * *

**{Naminé BGM}** Arctic Monkeys - _Why'd You Only Call Me When You're High?_

The way that the both of us spent the last Sunday before school started was completely different. Nerdy Naminé had already studied her ass off to familiarise herself with the Year 12 coursework, and so I rewarded myself by playing a few hours of Assassin's Creed IV, decked out in boy shorts and a bra. It was reaching that unbearable heat in the summertime best suited to undies weather.

When I was excited about a particular game, my inner monologue tended to slip out in the form of barely-restrained curses and various blasphemies, stopped only by the occasional sip of Ribena (the drink of the under eighteen gods). I paused the game and ripped off my glasses, rubbing my eye sockets with the heel of my palms. I needed this because the writing on PS3 games were suited for large plasma screens, and not the ancient technology I was too lazy to replace. The door burst open and Kairi pranced in with her iPad balanced on top of her manicure box and make up bag. I wiggled the glass bottle in my hand before placing it down, bottle-cap off.

"Kairi, I said I'm not going to go through with your makeovers while I'm still Naminé."

She rolled her eyes, and while I was looking at them, I wondered if mine were that blue when I took out my brown contacts. I was also kind of concerned because of how I kept referring to myself in third person.

"Guess who's hosting a before-school-starts party?" Kairi announced, dumping the stuff down on a bean bag, the clatter of her nail polishes drowning out the sound of the in-game dialogue. I groaned loudly.

"I'm not going." I stated firmly.

"No, you're not. But _Witch_ is."

"What? No."

"C'mon. It's at Vanitas' house."

"How is that supposed to encourage me? I don't even know Vanitas that well."

Kairi pouted, biting her lip before muttering, "Roxas is coming." Normally that wouldn't have worked for me, because- no offense- she looked absolutely ridiculous in her off-mode. C'mon. She was wearing a stained tank top and a pair of shorts I believe belonged to Dad, the drawstring was gathered and reached down to her knees. It wasn't a pretty look, but hey- what did I know?

I paused the game and sent Kairi the dirtiest of dirty looks I could muster, flipping her off before returning to the game, "I have an infamous Templar to assassinate, Kai. Leave me alone." I wasn't going to let her use my pathetic crush on Roxas against me.

Her pout became more pronounced as she crossed her arms over her chest. Or she could have been constipated. I don't know. It's hard to tell when you're not paying attention. "I will not have you squander our Year 12 experience with your stick-up-the-ass-ness. We're going to go out tomorrow, and we're going to dance, and drink, and have fun, just in time to nurse a hangover during morning assembly on Wednesday."

"No."

Kairi sighed, waiting a moment before dramatically sighing louder and taking out her phone, "Well, I guess I'm just going to have to tell Roxas that Witch can't make it."

"What?!" I yelled, outraged that she had gone behind my back to speak to him. Roxas was _mine_. Which is kind of awkward to say because Kairi definitely knows him better than I do. She's in his fucking band. Yeah, you try and deal with the fact that your sister gets to hang out with your crush MORE because you can't get _over_ your fucking fear of social interaction.

"Think about it, Nam. You said that Witch was going to take a break in order for you to focus more on your studies, right? This could be her final hurrah."

"Witch is not _dying, _Kairi. The High School Certificate is just more important."

"Why? You don't even want to go to college," Kairi muttered crossly. I opened my mouth, about to retort, but the words launched themselves back into my throat. I'm pretty sure my expression at least _looked _outraged. I'd just been suckerpunched. Three times. "If you don't come to the party, I'll tell Aurora."

"What the _fuck_, Kairi," I snapped, throwing the controller down. "Why are you being such a bitch about this?"

"C'mon, Naminé, you didn't think I was actually going to do that." Could have fooled me.

"But seriously, I'm calling Roxas right now," Kairi said, holding up her dialling phone. I launched at her, trying to hit the 'end call' button when I heard a boyish husky voice answer the other end.

_"Hello?"_

I couldn't help my face from heating up, but before I could hit the screen Kairi swooped in and pressed the 'speaker' button.

"Hi, Roxas. I've got a treat for you."

_"This isn't going to be like a last-Halloween type of trick, right Kai?"_

I hated, and I mean _hated_ the fact that Kairi was closer than him than I was. I didn't really have anyone else to blame but myself though. I never went to Kairi's gigs (awkward turtle) but each of those had been an opportunity to meet him. God, I'm such a coward.

"No," she said, grinning from ear to ear. "I've managed to track Witch down for you. I've asked her to come to Vanitas' party."

_"Woah! Really?!"_ My heart shattered. Roxas sounded so happy and excited. _"Is she with you? Can I speak to her?"_

"Yeah." She smirked, "Witch, Roxas wants to speak to you. He's a _huge_ fan."

I tried to refuse, but Kairi pinned me down and shoved the phone to my ear, even though I could clearly hear it from a metre away.

_"Hello? Witch?"_

"Um… Hi."

"_I hate to sound sceptical, but it really is Witch right? Kairi is not the most reliable of sources."_

I was going through an internal shit storm. Witch was a visual character. I'd never had to worry about what she sounded like until right this second. Should I lower my voice? Should I raise it? Should I speak slowly? Smokey-toned? Pretend I don't understand English?

In the end I just settled on my normal tone. I mean, it's not like he would be able to compare Witch to my normal voice anyway. I never spoke at school. He probably had no idea what I sounded like regardless.

I shrugged, "It's up to you whether you decide to believe in me or not. I'm not a faith-dependant pixie."

_"Oh wow. I'm sorry for fangirling, I'm just a long-time fan." _I was melting. Roxas' voice did all kind of nice things to my body, some of them inappropriate for viewers under the age of fifteen. So shoo._ "I have a picture of every tag I've come across." _I imagined that he did that thing where he scratched the back of his neck, hemp bracelets jangling. _"Oh man, that sounds weird. I'm sorry."_

I giggled. I'd never heard Roxas so flustered before. He always seemed so calm and collected. "It's alright, Roxas. Sick name by the way."

_"I'm sorry- I mean… thank you. Your voice is beautiful. I- that came out weird."_ He laughed nervously on the other end, and I pinked up, laughing with him. I was so flattered. He thought my voice was pretty? _"Anyway, my band is playing at a party around here, on Tuesday night. Do you think you could make it? I'd love to meet you, and a lot of my friends would too."_

"I…"

_"That is- unless you already had plans. Or don't want to go. I would totally understa-"_

A warm feeling filled up my chest and I smiled softly. Suddenly there was nothing in the world but Roxas' voice and I. It made my skin tingle to think about his warm blue eyes and the curve of his lips. I wanted desperately to see his face when he saw Witch for the first time. It'd be like a mix of Christmas and New Years combined together, supposedly.

"Don't worry, Roxas. I'll come."

"Yes!" Kairi cheered, knocking me out of my perfect rose-tinted happy place. I rolled my eyes and motioned for her to shut up. I roll my eyes a lot, if you hadn't realised.

_"Awesome," _he replied, voice a mix of a laugh and an exhalation. _"I'm really looking forward to meeting you."_

"Me too." I hit the 'end call' button.

Kairi was sitting opposite me with her face in her hands, looking at me like I'd just sprouted fluffy, glitter-soaked wings. That's a good thing, I guess.

"You have it _baaaaaad._"

"Shut up, Kai."

_"You want to kiss him~ And then undress him~ And then-"_

"For the love of god, I will stitch your lips together," I growled, face an unhealthy shade of bubblegum pink.

"This is going to be _awesome!_" she exclaimed, reaching forward to hug me. I pushed her back, threatening to throw the PS3 remote at her face.

It would slam between her eyes. It would be satisfying.

"You put me on the spot! How can you possibly benefit from me going to that goddamn party?!" I lunged at her and clambered over my sister, straddling her stomach and hitting her repeatedly with my Minion plush toy. "What if someone figures out that Witch is really me?!"

Kairi spoke as if she was addressing an adoring audience, looking at the ceiling like it was a large spotlight, "Just imagine how popular I'll be once they realise that I'm the only one that Witch interacts with? 'Kairi; the girl in cahoots with Witch!' Just think about it Nami!"

"We. Can't." I accentuated my point by hitting her with the Minion doll in between words. "Just. YOLO. Our. Way. Through. Life! You stupid air-headed douche-canoe!" The Minion swung and knocked over the bottle of Ribena, spilling onto the wooden floor. "LOOK WHAT YOU DID!"

Kairi gasped, mock-offended, "_I _didn't do it! How dare you call me a douche-canoe, you turd-fondler."

Red-faced I spat out, "Slut biscuit!"

"Butt nugget!"

I bet you're wondering where the hell we get these terrible names, right?

My door opened and Aurora stood there looking unimpressed, the handle of a spatula tapping against her elbow. They hadn't just shoved a stick up her ass, they'd opted for the entire freaking tree. That's how pissed she sounded.

"Girls. Young ladies mind their volume and _language_." LOL (I really am sorry about that. Internet slang abbreviations don't look right to me unless they're in either all caps or all lowercase. None of this 'Lol' business). Excuse me for my mix of internet lingo, but 'butt nugget' was now considered a bad word? Excuse me while I do my lines of sherbet and rap along to the lyrics of the Teletubbies theme song.

"Sorry," Kairi and I said in tandem.

She returned back to her proper priss self, brushing down her below-knee dress and folding her hands over one another, "Clean up and dress yourself appropriately. Dinner will be ready in a few minutes. Our guests should be here any minute now." Aurora said.

"We have guests?"

"Yes, the Gainsboroughs are coming over."

As Aurora closed the door I placed my hands on my face and dragged them down. If my face fell off we might have a valid reason to avoid this. "If there was anything I didn't need right now, it was a visit from Olette."

Slut biscuit and butt nugget had nothing on Olette. I swear to god, she really boils my milk.

"It's okay," Kairi said optimistically. "Forget about her and try to figure out what you're going to wear to this party."

I scoffed, flopping back on my bean bags. "How are we even going to get there? We're grounded, and mom has your keys."

"Don't you worry your pretty little head. I've got a plan."

**Follow Me Down**

[Chapter One]

**tbc.**

* * *

**a/n:** Hi, my name is Kacey, but you can call me Kace if you'd like. Please review, favourite and follow. I like all the things.

**warnings:** adult themes, swearing, alcohol, drugs, illegal activities, homosexual pairings, OOCness, an unreliable author, idk, more to come…

**blurb:** "Everybody's got something to hide, I think. In this grade alone, we've got a narcissistic beauty who's really a tomboy, a twin that's sick of being identical, a queen bitch who might be batting for the same team, a hall pass dealer, and several super confused boys. But there are no secrets as grand as the identity of Witch, the mysterious daredevil taggist famous all across the capital, and as of right now, rumoured to attend Destiny Isle Academy." [21st October 2013]

**disclaimer:** Kingdom Hearts belongs to Square Enix and Disney. All bands and brands mentioned in this fiction belong to their respectful owners.

**Cheers.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Follow Me Down**

[Chapter Two]

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**{Naminé BGM} **P!nk - _Stupid Girls_

As per normal with my ever-creative sibling, Kairi had been planning a party excuse of this magnitude for _weeks,_ as it became horrifyingly obvious that she had _everything_ planned out.

Stage 1: Purchase a dead rat from one of the hobos living near the underpass three blocks away.

It was gross. She'd been storing it in the fridge in a black plastic bag for the better half of two days. I couldn't believe she was willing to go through so much trouble to attend a party, but a the same time I could. Aurora put a severe limitation on Kairi's craving for public reassurance, boy attention, and alcoholic beverages. I mean, I couldn't see any other purpose for those things anyway. And I mean, _apart_ from getting drunk, stoned, and/or impregnated. I'd seen enough teen dramas to know something was going to go wrong. They were all so predictable, which is one of the reasons I turned to anime instead. I mean, c'mon, who would expect teens laughing and enjoying themselves when- dun dun dun- Avatar Korra blasted through the building in a hurricane of air bending, followed by a fifteen-metre-tall, man-eating titan, trailed on by a strange crime fighting organisation called Circus? Not me, that's who.

Anyway, Stage 2: Break into the janitor's closet and throw the dead rat into the air con system.

Kairi had a freaky-deeky ability to pick locks using bobby pins (which she had- of course- learned of Vanitas, the sneaky motherfucker (the real question was why he had bobby pins in the first place)). It was really worrying. I stood guard… but didn't really- and watched her unscrew the vent and throw the dead rat inside. With flourish might I add.

Now Kairi was pretty bad when it came to maths (I couldn't really say that, because it was my worst subject as well), but when something like permission came between her and dancing the night away at a party, she was completely unstoppable.

Stage 3: Wait for the smell to reach the apartments.

"A rat of that mass will be thawed in about two hours, and then the smell should start filtering through the building," she said, dusting her hands off.

"I can't believe you're willing to fuck up the rest of the tenants on this floor for your selfish needs," I replied, shocked when she merely shrugged her shoulders and smiled.

"Go big, or go home."

Stage 4: Ask for permission to sleep over at Sora's house once the smell reached the air con system.

The excuse we'd used to get out of our apartment was 'one of our neighbours on the lower floors, Pence, needed a copy of my homework'. He was going to cover for us in case stepmother dear got a little too shady and asked Pence's mom later. Aurora was a huge gossip. I'm sure mad drama was interesting for her, but personally, it just made my life harder.

By the time we came back, Olette was sitting on the couch watching TV and her mother, Ifalna, was at the dining room table with Aurora, a pot of tea between them. I really don't know where Olette's bitchiness came from, but one of my theories was malevolent alien diseases had infiltrated and spawned in the very depths of her heart, turning a sweet, innocent young girl into the horrid douche she was today. But seriously, Ifalna and Olette's older sister, Aerith, were absolute darlings. How did that wok out?

"Ah, Kairi, Naminé, come and say hello to Ifalna and Olette." I could see Aurora was giving me the weird 'look' again. This expression often appeared when she saw me taking the brown wig off, or putting it on. I told her that I was self conscious about my platinum blonde hair because it made me stand out, but I didn't like the smell of hair dye (which really wasn't that bad). That was normally enough to persuade her to get off my back about my hair choices.

"Hi, Auntie," Kairi and I said in tandem.

"Hello girls," she said, getting up to give us both a hug. "I actually came over here to give you two presents from Aerith." Ifalna fished in her bag pulling out two boxes. _What's in the box?~ _I'm sorry- I watch children's programs even as a seventeen-year-old. We opened them curiously and, to my absolute delight, I discovered a wide variety, maybe _twenty_ hemp bracelets resting inside. They were all so completely beautiful. I couldn't wait to start wearing them… as Witch.

"Thank you."

"The girls back in Midgar are very excited to see their friends back."

You see, the civil war in Midgar, over a special fuel called Mako, had recently ended. Since Destiny Isle is in a treaty with Midgar, five years ago many over-sixteens signed into the military under the section 'Edge', with promise of a lifetime of comfort when/if they came home. My older sister, Aqua, and her best friend Terra, had applied much to the chagrin of our Dad. About six months ago, the war came to a close and now troops were allowed to come back home, after their paperwork and formalities were done with.

Kairi and I knew a lot of kids with people who went to the war; Sora's older brother, Leon, Riku's cousin, Sephiroth, Roxas and Ventus' older brother, Cloud, Professor Farron's older sister, Lightning, and even Pence's older sister, Yuffie. Aerith had been a medic until the fighting stopped. It was this commonality that drew most of us together, even if some of us weren't a part of this tight-knit group.

"Are you looking forward to it?"

"Of course," Kairi answered. "We miss Aqua and Terra very much."

"We think about how they're doing all the time," I added, even though that was a blatant lie. We'd stopped worrying since the fighting stopped. We were just waiting for Aqua to send word of when she was to come back home.

"Here, I've made a copy of it for some friends. I thought you girls might want to have it."

It was group picture of Aqua, Terra and a few others we kind-of recognised, like Cloud, Leon, Aqua, Tifa, Aerith, Yuffie, as well as some more soldiers we couldn't identify. It was such a relief to know that Aqua and the others were safe. It was kind of weird to see her without the blue hair though- that was her trademark. They all looked different in a way. Older. War-torn. It was really sad.

"Thanks."

"Olette, that looks boring," Aurora said. "Why don't you watch the television in Kairi and Naminé's room?"

_Nooooooooo_.

"It's okay, Aurora. I'm really… alright here," she replied in that annoyingly high-pitched voice of hers. But for once in the last few years she was actually being rational. I didn't want her contaminating my room with her slut-biscuit-germs more than she wanted to be near delusional unpopular people like me. I guess she was fine with being near Kairi. Kairi was part of her clique after all. Actually, that was an understatement. Kairi was _running_ their clique. She was the queen bee. Olette wasn't, and that's why they were frenemies.

"Nonsense dear, go on. That's alright isn't it Naminé?" Aurora asked (read: demanded).

"Absolutely," I replied, because dammit, I was such a pussy. I couldn't just say 'NO', you understand? I just can't be rude without a reason. There are some that can do that, but being (very) rude or mean to people that don't deserve it gnaws at my soul until I can't function properly.

Olette looked like someone was pulling her hair as she followed Kairi and I down the hall and into our room. I know, 'Naminé, you are a grown-ass girl. Why do you and Kairi not have separate rooms?' Well, Kairi and I actually chose this apartment. Why? Because when our stepmom and dad gave us the choice between having an apartment on the top floor of a five-star building with beautiful sea-side view, compared to a shanty-ass apartment inland, _two hours_ from our school, which are you going to choose? Of _course_ we chose the beautiful apartment. The only downside is that we have to share rooms? Pshaw. That's nothing. Kairi and I shared a _WOMB. _Beat that!

Kairi and I spent the majority of our time in here, as do most teenagers condemned by their (ironically) hellish parents. I owned the Mac on the desk, because I need some room for my tablet, while Kairi normally kept her Apple laptop on her bedside table, and studied on her bed (whenever she choose to study anyway). The reason Kairi normally carted around her stupid make-up bag, which normally reside on one of drawers of her vanity, is because she quite frequently looked for the best lighting in the apartment to take selfies. It changed; from the skylight in the living room, to the huge window in our room, to the glass in our parent's bathroom. It was kind of pathetic, and I'd told her this multiple times, but she never really cared for my opinion anyway.

Well, as soon as Olette was in the room I pulled away the bow at my collar for a little more breathing room and sat down in one of the bean bags, picking up Assassin's Creed where I'd left of. I wasn't obligated to entertain her and I wasn't going to switch up my game so she could watch Project Runway.

"Oh my god, you're such a boy, Naminé."

"Why?" I replied, not even bothering to turn around to address her. "Is it because it's suddenly your impression that girls can't play videogames?"

"It's so masculine," Olette replied… stupidly, "even the girls in videogames all look like skinny guys with boobs."

"Well, obviously you haven't seen the latest version of Tomb Raider," I muttered, just loud enough for her to hear. "And it's not up to _you_ what's considered masculine and feminine for everyone else."

"Whatever," she scoffed, "I don't know what's worse; that you're a gamer girl, or that you're a lesbian."

I frowned, tempted to pause the game and tell her off, or to throw the controller at her head if I didn't know I'd _definitely_ be punished for doing the world a massive favour. I just kept on playing the game, venting my frustrations on semi-innocent guards who had the misfortune of running into my swords. Not to brag, but my hand eye coordinate was pretty stellar thanks to being a gamer nearly all my life. These Templar sailors never saw it coming.

I was going to be the bigger person. And I mean that figuratively because everyone I know, excluding oldies and young'uns, are taller than me. Even _Sora_, that midget, is taller than me by at least half an inch, even when I'm wearing heels (yes, we have fought about this before, and we have measured, and it was a humiliating defeat).

"Are you going to Vanitas' party, Olette?" Kairi asked, desperately trying to make conversation. Kairi normally couldn't shut up. It was just harder against someone trying to steal your spot as most popular girl, I guess. They were in the same clique, so Kairi had to pull her head out of her ass and play nice, and in turn the brunette acted civil towards her. It kind of disgusted me, but I think they were actually friends on some level.

"Vanitas is hosting a party?" Olette demanded more than asked. She strode up to Kairi and shook her shoulders violently, "Who's coming?"

"The entire grade," Kairi replied innocently.

"You mean, even Naminé?" Olette said, in a voice quiet enough that she _thought_ I didn't hear.

"Oh yeah," Kairi replied, "Naminé was personally invited by Roxas."

I snapped my neck to turn around. The first thought that popped into my head was 'What if Olette _asked_ Roxas about inviting me to the party, and he said he invited _Witch_ instead?' Yes, because Witch is half of me, I know I shouldn't be that afraid, but- Just… ugh- you know. Or not. Wow, so eloquent Naminé. _It's the principle of the thing!_

Guys, how funny is it that I'm getting As in writing, but I can't even English sometimes?

I know I said I was kind of worried, but after seeing Olette's face it was definitely worth it. She gave me this stink-eye which was the embodiment of jealousy. I can't fully explain it but I consider jealousy to be one of the most dangerous human emotions. It makes you feel _so good_ to have something other people don't, and I guess in Olette's case I was taking Roxas away from her- I'd already snagged him once, as 'Fauxame'. He'd been a good friend to confide things in. Not even Kairi knew that I had been Roxas' friend since we were both thirteen. I'm afraid she was going to let it slip. She was a romantic, and loved pissing me off, so telling Roxas was the ideal punishment.

Olette and Roxas used to be tight. I remember that she was always with Roxas, Hayner, and Pence as we were growing up. I guess when she started to become more girly, and Pence started to become artsy, and Roxas started becoming more punk-y, and Hayner- jockey, they all started going their separate ways. I mean of course they still acknowledged each other in the hallways and spoke to one other, and generally didn't fight with each other, but those are the only elements of a life-long friendship not being thrown to the wind.

Sometime around last year Olette had declared in the girl's locker room that she would be attempting to court Roxas, and any girl caught in the crossfire was going to be incinerated (ie. me and all of his other adoring fans), which is one of the reasons why Kairi was the only one that knew I was majorly crushing on him- because any other girl in our grade would definitely sell me out to get into Kairi and Olette's pretty committee.

(If I had to hear Shiki say 'On Wednesdays we wear pink' _one _more time I was going to pull out her extensions. Violently.)

I was so caught up in my thoughts that I didn't realise Olette had seated herself right next to me, sitting with her legs in an uncomfortable sideways 'V' manner, because she didn't want me to stare at her panties, which I wouldn't do even if I _was_ a lesbian. Okay, okay, do you remember that scene in The Princess Diaries where Julie Andrews tells Anne Hathaway 'Princesses do _not_ cross their legs in public, they tuck one leg behind the other… etc.?' Yeah, Olette was doing that, but sitting down, it looked really uncomfortable, and rather pathetic.

I didn't mean to say that Olette was ugly, at all, because she was beautiful, unbearably so. She had gorgeous chestnut-umber brown hair styled in a very unique way; it's curled at the bottom, and spiked out on the sides. No one could imitate or wear this quite like she could. And she had _green_ eyes. You didn't understand how jealous I was of her when it came to her enchanting emerald green eyes. Me? I'm blonde-haired, blue eyed. Typical. Barbie-like. But I guess that's me, so I have to live with it. Oh wait, no. I'm brown-haired, brown-eyed at the moment. I'm not even living life as I who I am. Pretty stupid, huh?

"Listen, Naminé…"

I paused the game and turned to her, intimidatingly trying not to blink (but my contacts were killing me).

"You might not remember, since all of these video games actually melt your brain cells-"

Oh, that's weird. Last I checked I was still getting somewhat straight As. Better than you, you pretentious little brat.

"-But do you remember what I said in the locker room? You might have been too busy checking out other girls to notice, but I said that Roxas. Is. Mine."

"Because I'm supposed to take _anything _said in the locker room seriously." Sarcasm. For those of you that didn't notice. I closed my eyes for dramatic effect and opened them with the most threateningly emotionless face I could muster, "First of all, there is nothing wrong with lesbians, for the love of god."

"That's the thing," Olette interrupted, "Homosexuality is a sin against god."

I hoped to any deity out there that she didn't actually believe that festering crock shit. Maybe if she fessed up to repeating spoon-fed lies by the less-intelligent side of society, she could come out of the shit storm that was her belief system by graduation. But alas, her head was buried deep, deep, deep in her ass.

"Yeah, maybe for people that lived in Jesus' time, but not now, you overbearing _cow._ And secondly, Roxas is not _yours._ He is his own person, and free to be with anyone that he chooses. He was not chemically designed to be with you."

"Haha," she laughed humourlessly- not even a tasteful classic horror movie laugh, it was the kind I assumed Aurora performed when she gained a new tid bit of gossip to feast on. Her green eyes darkened, glossed lips turning down in a frown. "Does Lame Little Naminé have a crush on him? Because let me tell you something, darling…"

I turned to Kairi, wondering why she wasn't sticking up for me in this instance. She was lying on the bed and listening to music. Typical. That's probably why; she listened to things at full volume. Pretty bad for the health. But then again, Kairi had been nagging me about cigarettes since grade ten.

"Roxas would never be interested in a sad pathetic excuse like you. You know, he confessed that he liked me in eighth grade, you know."

_That_ I knew. And fuck, it still stung.

My internet correspondence with Roxas had lasted a grand total of one year, and nine months. I guess that was almost two years, but it seemed like a lifetime ago. In that time he had_ one _infatuation, if you didn't include his fangirling over Selena Gomez, and my gloriously faceless self. He only knew me by my strange email, and thus only addressed me as 'Fauxame'.

What I did know was that he definitely thought he was in love with Olette, and- and that really _hurt_. Oh my, it really tortured my stupid naïve thirteen-year-old heart.

But do you know what happened?

"So, then why aren't you together now?" I said quietly, continuing to stare at the television screen. Stab. Side step. Dodge roll. Headshot.

"Well, obviously it was because Roxas wasn't emotionally ready for a relationship that that time."

_No. You motherfucking liar._

It was because she had been crushing on _Hayner_. You know why she wasn't crushing on Roxas? Because back then Roxas was a scrawny little geek. He wore thick-rimmed glasses before they were cool, and he was dressed in baggy, scene clothing, and according to the general consensus; HE WASN'T COOL. He'd only been deemed cool once the hipster era started to swing in full force, and he'd swapped out Yu-Gi-Oh! cards for a garage band (later named Dusk (after my painting, if you didn't remember- MY painting. Not Olette's.))

"Yeah right."

"Yeah, you are," Olette admitted. "Face it, he only became hot in the last few years. And you're never going to get over your Ugly Duckling Phase."

Goddamn. That stung too. But I had to make sure- if I could salvage any of my remaining dignity- that I at least looked stoic and put together on the outside.

"You know what? Whatever." I said, trying to sound as cool as possible. What was the point? There was no one listening to me but Olette, and her opinion hardly mattered.

"So you admit defeat?" Olette smirked like Cheshire. But it looked so odd on her face that it seemed like she was just getting over dental surgery. She wasn't the kind of girl who could pull of a Cheshire grin.

_I'll show you what admitting defeat looks like._

Olette might have been gorgeous and popular, but…

Roxas was _my_ biggest fan.

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**{Roxas BGM}** Ashe - _Come & Get It_

Morning. It was the time of the day I'd come to hate with a raging passion, followed closely by dinner time, and guitar practice. And not because of some normal teenager-y misconduct like fighting for the bathroom, or being interrupted while masturbating- something irritating like that. My alarm wasn't in place today, so I didn't wake up until eight. My _goal_ however, was more along the lines of six a.m.-ish. I stumbled out of bed, vision still a blur as I threw open Ven's door, a mess of shaking limbs and disorienting vision.

"Ven! Why didn't you wake me up?" I demanded noisily, because it was a really dick move to completely screw up a brother's clock on a day like this one.

Ven was watching TV on the tiny set in his room, eating cereal and looking as pleased as pie, "When did I become your alarm clock?"

"I'm going to be late for the PS4 release," I groaned, running back into my room and throwing open my closet. I'd been waiting for this for _months_, and I wasn't going to let a bloody line deter me from getting to it as early as possible. I was ready to fake a disability and make little kids cry for this.

I threw on an outfit with barely a care whether it mixed or matched, snatching up my wallet and phone before zooming into the kitchen for nutrients. Normally I would care, but the fate of my new console was counting on me. I would love it, and cherish it. I was even thinking of something to name it, which was definitely going overboard a little (RJ- Roxas Junior didn't sound stupid, right?)

I was filtering through the cupboards when stepfather dearest came to sit by the table. "Where you off to, son?"

_Don't call me 'son'._

I bit my tongue, rummaging around for something to eat on the go as I replied, "I'm going to pick something up."

"Pray tell."

I didn't want to answer.

I mean, I was often told I was sorta dense, but I couldn't have been this bad. I was two hundred percent sure if I didn't tell him he'd forbid me from getting out the door. To my stepfather, Prince (last name: Charmant), I was a little kid that needed to make adult choices. I'm pretty sure this guy was robbed of his childhood or something. He was a firm believer that too much television melted the brain, and videogames were monumentally bad influences on children. Well, Ventus and I weren't children anymore, we were turning eighteen for Christ sakes.

From what my Mom has scrounged up about the guy, he was rich- apparently, but he blew his crusty grandfather's inheritance on something like gambling, or whores, possibly both, and was kicked out of the family to make his own way in the world. I know he was a divorcee, I'd found out accidentally during a parent teacher conference that he used to be with my eighth grade home ec. teacher, Ms. Cinders.

"The new Sony game console. It's coming out today."

Prince released a large sigh. _Well __**fuck you, **__sir. _Even though I wasn't looking at him, I could feel the judgemental stare boring into my skin. I hated it. I hated him- to the point where it was embarrassingly cliché. If there was a way to materialise condescension, then this man would be it.

"You know how I feel about those stupid little toys under my roof."

_But the thing is, I couldn't really give a damn what you think._

I slammed the cupboard shut, turning around and saying through ground teeth, "Last time I checked, it was Mom's house. You just pay rent."

Prince slammed his hands on the table, giving Roxas the stink eye, "Listen here, you ungrateful brat. Your father is not here- neither is your older brother, and I've got to stand in his place. You will give me the respect I deserve."

"The level of respect you're demanding is _earned_, not given freely to self-righteous douche bags such as yourself."

"That is bullshit!"

"Do you know what respect is?" Roxas snarled at him, banging his own fist on the table. "There are levels of respect, starting at common courtesy. Common courtesy is a given, and you don't even deserve that. The respect you demand is deep-seated trust and admiration people work _hard_ for. You will get _none_ of it from me until you stop acting like a pretentious asshole."

The man was completely red in the face, and I would have missed the swing if Prince didn't make it so completely obvious. I felt the rush of air hit my face before his knuckles could even graze my skin. I caught the throw, moments from snapping thin wrists with delicate bones, but the force of it sent me into the cabinets, rattling the condiments. I threw out my right hand to wrap around Prince's neck while I pushed the hand with the fist backwards, sending the man's fist into an awkward, painful angle.

"Are you kidding me? My brother's a SOLDIER. You think he would leave us completely defenceless?"

I squeezed his neck until he was begging for mercy, but it was only when Ventus walked into the room that he actually stopped. Lucky him because I was ready to squeeze the life out of that motherfucker.

"Stop it!" he demanded, rushing up to us and pulling us apart. "You two are so inconsiderate. You could have woken Mom up."

I frowned as sudden guilt flooded my expression. Yeah. I should have been mindful of Mom. But this _asshole- _I sent Prince a final glare before turning around, picking up my skateboard slamming the door on the way out.

_God, I HATE that guy._

I opened my phone and punched in my best friend's number, waiting until the slurred 'Hello' on the other end before I started talking. "Axel, can I stay at your place tonight?"

I could tell Axel was awake already, probably smoking from the grittiness of his voice. I couldn't imagine what he would be doing at this time, he normally wasn't awake until at least one pm. _"What did he say this time?"_

I scoffed, kicking a pebble off my driveway angrily, watching it blend into the knee-length grass. "He said something along the lines of 'I don't like those stupid toys under my roof'."

_"Well he's kind of right. The PlayStation sucks."_

I laughed as I threw my board down and started making my way downtown, "Like the Xbox One is _any_ better."

_"But seriously, what's wrong now?" _Yeah, I didn't feel like getting into a console war with my best friend either. I'd already dealt with enough conflict for today.

"I just told him 'up yours' and then he punched me. Ven broke it up but-"

_"He punched you? Roxas, you've got to report that shit to the police."_

"Since when are you on the cop's side?" Axel had always proved himself adverse to many kinds of authority; cops, lawyers, educators, even his parents. I suppose that was the way for a natural-born troublemaker. I only caused problems to people I believed deserved them.

_"They're pretty useless sometimes, but concerning this kinda stuff- you should tell them, before you and Ventus are eighteen too, so they don't just brush this off. That dick shouldn't be hurting you to assert his dominance."_

"I guess you're right. Ven and I are okay- we can defend ourselves, but I'm not sure how long my Mom is going to hold up with this jerk, even if she was the one who asked us to keep quiet in the first place."

_"Why do you think that is?"_

"It's some kind of mentality she has going. I don't know. This violence has only started appearing recently, so maybe she thinks it's going to pass." It really saddened me that Mom was so timid. When Cloud was here, she was as assertive as she was loving, but for some reason all of that courage had disappeared when she started getting serious with Prince. He was obviously some kind of toxic influence on her. I couldn't wait until Cloud came back, he'd know what to do.

_"Talk to Ven and do something about this, before it becomes even more serious than it is now."_

"Okay. So does that mean no sleepover?"

_"You'd better get this sorted first. Who knows what he might do without the alpha male missing from the den."_

I rolled my eyes, but hit 'end call' and looked up to see that I was in the middle of the city now. I turned a corner, making sure to skate along the edge of the sidewalk closest to the road in order to keep out of people's way. I'd almost reached the nearest EB Games when I was shocked to see the line for it extended all the way around the block. I was ready to rip my eyeballs out of their sockets.

I was going to settle down at the end and evaluate everything wrong with my life when I thought of the brilliant idea to see if I could cut in line with anyone I knew. I saw Seifer's gang somewhere near the end, but no doubt they'd probably just send me to the back of the line and beyond, I wouldn't be surprised if they heckled me and threw non-existent fruit as well. Nearer to the entrance was a familiar brunet I immediately started bee-lining towards.

"Hey there!" I greeted cheerily, because I hated to admit it, but I'd forgotten the girl's name. I was hoping friendliness would cover my from-the-get-go assholishness, "You're Kairi's sister, right?"

Up close it was hard to believe both girls were related. They were about the same height, but because Kairi's confidence and vigour she seemed a lot taller than this crouched little girl. She had brown hair and a mushroom-styled cut (what an unfortunate girl), as well as thick black-rimmed glasses that made seeing her even harder. Though her nose and mouth looked about the same as Kairi's, her lips were chapped, and her skin looked scratchy and worn. I evaluated all the mean things he'd just thought about her and mentally reminded myself to press my head into a door and slam it shut. What the fuck was wrong with me? I guess it was the thought of joining a thirty-meter long line freaking me the fuck out.

She looked down at her brown, lace-up shoes and nodded her head, as if addressing the concrete. I'm sorry girl-I-don't-know-the-name-of. Oh my god, what if she's a mind reader? And she might be looking down disappointed because I've been thinking of these super stupid things? If you can _hear_ this, I'm SORRY for being a massive horse dick! Okay?

"You wouldn't mind if I slipped in here and waited with you, right?" I asked, trying to smile in order to make her feel more comfortable, and to plead my case, of course. She didn't even look me in the eyes as she said yes. I didn't understand. How were Kairi and this girl related?

"So, I know this is going to make me seem like a total asshole, but I don't know actually know your name," I admitted sheepishly.

She said something, but her voice was so quiet that I couldn't hear a thing. I was reminded of the Asian girl from Pitch Perfect that said really absurd things when people couldn't actually hear her. I really hoped she wasn't saying 'I light fires to feel joy' because I already know one pyromaniac too many.

"Sorry?"

"…né…"

Wow. You don't have to shout.

"Could you repeat that?"

She sighed and actually looked up when she spoke this time, "Naminé."

"That's a really pretty name."

She bit her lip and looked down again.

"It is!" I said, now sounding like I was over compensating. "I mean, you don't hear it a lot. Of course, you've probably heard 'Nami' before, but when it comes to mind, the o-only one I can actually think of if the spidery red-head from One Piece, and… um…"

I stood there awkwardly.

People often confused me for someone smooth and debonair, but I really didn't know what I was doing. I had never been the talkative one, but I felt the awkward silence between us was becoming unbearable. There are levels of awkwardness (unwanted lab partner awkward, the thing where someone is trying to pass you, and you get in their way constantly awkward, doing your crush in your head awkward) I can handle and uncomfortable silence is not one of them. I looked about her for something to begin a conversation. She was wearing a pink sweater and a really long purplish skirt with a black carnival design on it. She was probably really hot in that clothing, but I was sure if I commented on that I bet it would sound like I was hitting on her. So I chose the next best thing?

"So, are you here for the PS4 too?"

She turned to me and even through the thick-rimmed glasses I could see she was giving me an expression that said, 'What do _you_ think?' She had mischievous, playful eyes, and a mouth that turned down with extra attitude despite the fact that I could see her muscles twitching, as if she wanted to smile. When I broke out in a smile, her frown turned up at the corners until Naminé was smiling too.

"Hey, you're a little like Kairi after all."

I shouldn't have said that, she looked kind of pissed. Man, why did I not learn to stay away from that subject? I hated it when people compared me to Ven. It sucked being a hypocrite.

"You two have got that 'you're an idiot' look down," I said, trying to remedy my mistake. It worked.

"One of my many talents," Naminé said softly.

"Ah, apparently you're all kinds of smart," I reached forward to press my knuckles against her shoulder gently, because I'd never think to actually punch a girl. Unless that girl was Kairi. "So have you got a game for your system?"

"Not yet," she shook her head, smiling cutely as she looked in a different direction and said, "no, I'm hoping for Thief to be my first game on the PS4."

"Ah, 'Thief'. That's the one that looks like Dishonoured, right?"

"I _loved_ Dishonoured," her smile widened, tilting her head to the side. "The music was incredible, and the _visuals. _The game was just so aesthetically amazing for me."

"It was." I agreed. I had this habit of forgetting all social tact when my nerdiness came into play. "I was _so _obsessed with it. 'Honour For All' is still my ringtone."

"I wasn't really good at it. I'm quite bad at stealth missions, but it was fun. That's really cool."

"Hey, you're a pretty cool yourself, Nami." Wow, Roxas, could you get any cornier? "You don't mind if I call you that, right?"

She shook her head, "Sora and Kairi give me nicknames all the time. Not all of them flattering."

"Like what?"

She turned red and flushed, voice going soft as she replied, "'Turd fondler' for one."

The laugh bubbled in my throat and spilled out my lips. "Man, that is classy."

I couldn't really believe it, but Naminé was pretty cool. It was hard to hear her half the time because even though she did say some sassy stuff from time to time, her voice kept on lowering itself until I had to ask her to speak up.

We had twenty minutes speaking to each other, and in that time we covered likes in video games, movies, and music. After we picked up our purchases, we both walked to a nearby park so that we could rest from standing up so long. The both of us lived on different ends of this suburb. I lived closer to the slums, and Naminé in the more upper class levels.

There was a special swing in this park suspended by an two crossing arcs, the seat of the swing was a sunken-in circular platform, perfect for sitting and lying in. Locals had been calling it 'The Condom Swing' ever since the park was re-invented, aptly named because it looked like a rubber as you were opening it. I sat down on the edge of the swing, inviting Naminé to but she shook her head to decline. She probably didn't want to let go of the PS4. Instead, she sat down in the middle of a thick see-saw.

"Do you know Witch?" I asked suddenly.

Naminé jerked inhumanely when she heard the name. I raised an eyebrow and dug the heels of my Converse into the rubber-ish playground floor.

"Is that a yes?"

"Um…" she replied, bringing up her hand to scratch the side of her head. She looked quite adorable doing that. "Yes, I know of her."

"She did that," I said, pointing to a large tag on the side of the jungle gym. It was a popular spot for taggers because it was close to the ground, and you never really are too old for playgrounds. The wall was the basic structure supporting the monkey bars and the flying fox.

_This _Witch tag would have taken a while and a lot of creativity. With a pallet of blue, pink and orange, Witch had constructed an amazing, twisting, swerving, castle. It was a mix of steampunk and magic, with brass towers, birdcages hanging off the main structure, and beautiful blue-purple streams coming out of the vents. Underneath the castle was a mirroring underwater realm. Right in the middle of the mural was a symbol of a heart crossed in the centre with two thorny vines. It was something he'd seen in her works a lot.

"I am such a huge fan of her artwork," I admitted, marvelling at the smooth lines, created with such precision.

"What do you think she's trying to say?" Naminé asked me.

"Well, I'm not an art expert," I admitted, "but I'm guessing in this piece she's setting a story."

Naminé tilted her head to the side, raising an eyebrow (which was suspiciously light for her hair colour). I guess that was code for 'What do you mean?'

"Witch is always creating murals of amazing worlds I've never seen before. This one is amazing, and judging by the colour scheme she's using, it's a common element when creating this particular world. I've seen two other murals that look like this one, and they're all marked it this crossed-out heart. The first one was an image of a waterfall, but it was… how do I describe it? It was like a waterfall, but in reverse. I'm assuming it was part of this world because in that picture, I saw the silhouette of this castle in the background."

Naminé was speechless. She was looking at me with a look of absolute shock.

_Have I said something wrong? Did I sound like an absolute lunatic?_

After a second or two of nervous deliberation, Naminé cracked a smile. She really was pretty when she smiled, in a way that was incredibly different from Kairi.

"You really do like her, don't you?"

"Yeah…" I replied. "Even if I've never met her before, I feel like I can connect with her through these images, even if it's a little. That doesn't sound stupid, does it?"

"Of course not."

I sparked an idea, "Hey! Naminé, you should go to Vanitas' party, Witch is going to be there."

"Oh no," she shook her head, "I couldn't."

"I insist."

**tbc.**

* * *

[fauxli **dot** tumblr** dot** com **slash** story-related]


	3. Chapter 3

**Follow Me Down**

[Chapter Three]

* * *

**{Naminé BGM}** Andrew Belle - _In My Veins_

"Well, did you say yes?"

Did she take me for an idiot? I guess she did.

Kairi reached forward to shake my shoulders violently, like some kind of poorly written cartoon. I felt like there had been a lot of shaking it my life recently, both in the literal and metaphorical sense. My head was already cluttered and hot from hanging out with Roxas too long, I didn't need her messing it up further. It was already a pigsty in there.

"No! Of course I didn't." I replied indignantly, trying to reach my bed, but Kairi was doing a magnificent job of blocking me off.

"What did you say?" Man, by the way she was hanging onto my every word, you'd think I was delivering news that the world was ending, or a new One Direction album, she would have reacted the same to either.

"I said I'd think about it."

"Naminé!" Kairi groaned. " 'I'll think about it' is three quarters yes, and one quarter no."

"Since when did words have secret meanings?!" I replied in a shout because things were getting incredibly stressful. I knew words had secret meanings because I was now an expert in case studies and what authors really meant when they said 'the curtains are blue'. Stupid fucking blue curtains. In my hunt for hidden meanings, I'd come to actually _hate _literal blue curtains. You just don't understand my war with the stupid drapes, along with additional English bullshittery.

"Since _always!_"

"Yeah, it means 'Piss off, Naminé's not going to the party', so calm your ovaries," I snapped at her, throwing her off and moving to our shared walk-in closet. I slammed it behind me, probably prompting another lecture from Aurora, but what-the fuck-ever.

I _hated_ sharing a closet with Kairi.

The worst thing about having a sister that was about your height and size was the constant borrowing of clothes, shoes, and accessories. But let me tell you what the second-worst part of it is; the comparisons.

Kairi was always taking an item of my clothing, sometimes from my 'Naminé' wardrobe, and sometimes from my 'Witch' clothing, and complaining that it didn't fit her in some aspect; Kairi's legs were longer than mine, and her shoulders were smaller. My torso was a lot slimmer, and my boobs were bigger- something she took the time to complain about, _all the time_.

Kairi was always telling me what kind of clothing suited my body, even though I didn't care and just wore whatever the hell I wanted. It was kind of weird that we had different body types, but I guess it had something to do with how we took care of them? Kairi's diet was healthier than my own, and she only exercised as a cheerleader. I performed parkour and gymnastics _all_ the time, but I didn't miss the chance to eat pizza, and I never counted calories like she did.

"Can I borrow your floral top?" Kairi asked, fishing it out of my side of the closet. When Kairi said 'Can I borrow?' she really meant, 'I'm going to relentlessly persist in asking you until you say yes.' There was no fighting it, but I did like to give her a hard time.

"The one that you said washed out my face?" I said bitterly. Yes, she was kind of a downer when it came to shopping. 'Naminé, those jeans are too long for you,' or 'Nam, I don't think horizontal stripes will elongate your figure'. Back to Point 1. I wear what I want, when I want, and you can't stop me. Unless you're a school official telling me that onesies aren't appropriate school attire (which is stupid).

"Well," the redhead replied cattily, "it would look nicer on people with tans."

Nerd + anime/movies obsession + good grades = never going out = no tan.

"Screw you."

"I'd rather you not," she said cheekily, tossing the top into her bag and looking around for some matching bottoms. She'd won the battle, but she hadn't won the war. What was the war about? Um… Unicorn civil rights. Yes.

I was arranging my first public Witch outfit on the bed, trying to dim down my excitement as I thought about what kind of shoes I should wear. I didn't think heels would be a good idea. I had mixed feelings about wearing them. Actually, the last time I wore heels in public was… I think it might have been for a very distant aunt's funeral when I was fifteen. I had been hoarding heels, but I never actually got the chance to wear them that often. There wasn't really a point to this, except to express the fact that I wish I had places to wear heels more often. I love them. They make me taller, which is always a bonus, because then I can at least be in the same ball park as these bloody colossal titans around me.

Yes- _another_ SnK reference.

"What's the time?" I asked Kairi. Well, more like demanded, but details, details.

"Time to get a watch," she answered before I threw a Louboutin heel at her. I missed to my great displeasure. I used to say that. I thought I was being smart, but I was just being annoying obviously.

"No, seriously we don't have much time before we head to Sora's house. The smell is getting worse I think."

As previously reported, Kairi had thrown a dead rat into the air vents, and the smell had gotten worse by the time I returned from my mini-date with Roxas. Hell, the smell was there when we were still eating with Olette and Ifalna last night. That was quite the awkward dinner.

Kairi had expertly convinced Aurora that we couldn't deal with the gross smell, and she had _agreed,_ so now I guess we were sleeping over at Sora's house. Aurora was sleeping over at her best friend Snow's. Except we weren't sleeping over at Sora's house, we were dropping our stuff there and then heading over to Vanitas' party. Sora's mother wasn't exactly the most responsible woman in the world. 'Piss drunk' is the way Kairi described her, but she did give Sora the ultimate amount of freedom to do whatever he wanted, which I guess is why he was such a goodie goodie.

Personally, I think parents that limit their child's ability to explore create the ones that are a little more troublesome; Kairi and I included. Well, Kairi and Witch included. I think parents that let their kids run wild either produce really nice children, or really asshole-ish losers.

My outfit was perfect… Actually, it was really slutty, but I was perfectly okay with this. I grabbed a large bag and started throwing the clothing inside. I wasn't going to wear this stuff out the apartment, then Aurora would make me stay regardless of disgusting rat smell, censoring me out with loose-fitting clothing forever. Shudder. I left in the same clothes I had worn to EB Games, a long sweater and an even longer skirt, which _scorched_ in this stupid heat. Kairi had thrown on jeans and one of my oversized Batman t-shirts.

"Bye Aurora!" we said as we rushed through the apartment and caught the elevator. It was nice to be out of her talon-like clutches for a while, even if it was to attend a dumb party.

To be honest, I wasn't actually looking forward to this party. I know, you probably already figured this out. Do you want a gold sticker? The main reason I'm going was because Roxas pulled that bloody 'I'm your biggest fan' crap on me, and how are you supposed to say no to someone like that? It's impossible, I tell you.

The entire time spent in the car was Kairi anticipating what was going to happen at the party, (you know, apart from getting drunk, high, or laid-mostly I had to remind her to keep her freaking hands on the wheel. She had a tendency to gesture when she was excited) and I will readily admit that I was jealous. Parties sounded like a lot of fun if you knew the people you were hanging out with, plus, I'd never actually seen a mansion before and I was looking forward to seeing just how big Vanitas' place was.

I was also nervous because I'd never actually met Vanitas before. He'd only come to Destiny Isle Academy at the beginning of grade eleven. I knew Sora was his cousin. They seemed close and Sora idolised the guy because he was so damn cool. He didn't act rich at school, he was just walking around being a BAMF. He owned a motorbike so- brownie points to him. I'm sure he's a pretty chill guy who wouldn't kick me out… hopefully.

Sora and Kairi were the only ones that knew about my secret identity, so I kind of panicked when I saw Sora _and_ Riku waiting in the driveway. Kairi ran out of the car to hug Sora, which seemed entirely pointless to me because they'd only been apart for a day or two. Ja'mie much. I nodded my head at Riku. We were… friends, I guess. I don't know. We used to play together when we were kids, and even though he was still attached to Kairi and Sora, I kind of stopped… going out… so we hadn't talked in a while.

"Sora, you didn't tell me that Riku was going to be here," Kairi said under her breath, but Riku must have had amazing hearing because he raised an annoyingly perfect eyebrow and said,

"Well, it's nice to see you too, Kai. At least Naminé isn't so rude." There's Riku, smartass in gentlemen's clothing… Possibly. It could have been the other way around.

"I am saying this on _behalf_ of Naminé, you peacock," she said, reaching up to flick Riku's forehead. I smiled at them, but jealousy niggled into my emotions. I was very jealous of Kairi and Riku's relationship. I mean, to trust someone so thoroughly that you could ask them to be your beard? That was pretty nifty, I reckon.

"I didn't know you were going to be here either, Nami," Riku said gently, and I had to remember exactly why I wasn't crushing on Riku instead of Roxas. The sight of his beautiful silver hair dazzled me. Oh yeah, Riku was probably Kinsey six gay. Ironically, the only one that didn't know was Sora. I have a pretty good feeling you're about to see why. "I didn't know the party scene was your thing."

"Naminé's not coming," Sora said, blurting out the only thing I would actually consider killing him over, "Witch is."

My eyes widened and I launched at Sora to strangle his neck. Kairi held me back but the damage had already been done.

"Naminé is Witch?!" Riku exclaimed.

"Please don't eat me!"

"Look what you've_ done!_" I growled at Sora, clawing for his face so I could smash it into the pavement. I would do it. I have enough pent up energy to run a small amusement park. "Do you even _think _before you speak?"

That was a stupid question because everyone knew that Sora had absolutely no brain-to-mouth filter, a hilariously terrible thing about him. Funny because one time he had been sleeping in Geography, and when Riku woke him up he screamed 'No maple on my nipples!' and atrocious because he couldn't keep a secret to save his deliciously round ass… Don't look at me like that.

"Woah," Riku said, "that's the most I've heard from you in the last two years."

I rolled my eyes and pushed Kairi off me, crossing my arms to address him. Riku's reaction was definitely a lot more calm than Sora's had been (ie. surprise, followed my 'why didn't you tell me?', followed by denial, then 'OMG this is awesome', and finally acceptance.) I felt sufficiently more like the Witch persona I'd envisioned in my head.

"Well, it's become obvious my biggest mistake as Witch was telling Sora who I am."

"Hey!" said the wriggling body on the floor.

"Sora," said Riku, "you're terrible at keeping secrets. Do you understand why people never tell you until the last second?"

"I'm not that bad. I'm not six. I can keep a secret." Pfft.

"What about that time Naminé brought her pet rabbit to school, and we told you not to tell?"

"That was _one_ time!"

"And the time Kairi tried out for Mercutio in the school play, and you revealed that she was actually a girl instead of the foreign exchange student?" I said.

"But-"

"Oh, and then there was that time that Riku tried to be Ophelia in the _other_ school play, and you revealed that he was a _boy_ instead of the other foreign exchange student." Kairi added.

"Shut up."

"Or last year, when Vanitas slept with the hot substitute teacher-" Riku supplied.

"Hey-!"

"Sora, you almost got her fired and Vanitas expelled."

"Bottom line," I said, trying to convey my 'Witch' persona properly, "if you tell _anyone_ else who I am, I chop off your dick and _feed it _to you. Okay?"

I was ready to make a sassy retort when I heard Riku laughing, but just as I was about to speak he said, "I think I like this side of you, Nami."

"That makes one of us," I replied without even really thinking about it. My first instinct was the cover my mouth and ask for forgiveness. I don't even know why, but now that Riku knew I was Witch, I felt infinitely better about being near him. "Your reaction to this news is a lot more calm than Sora's was."

"Oh, I don't actually believe you're Witch yet. You have to provide some evidence."

"Well too bad, because I'm not a show pony."

"Naminé," Kairi said, subtly trying to slip her sticky phalanges into my purse bag thing. I swung it into her arm and shook my head. "I'm just saying you should show Riku your sketchbook."

"No," I replied stubbornly.

"Well, whatever," Kairi sighed, "Naminé and I are going to get changed, okay?"

"Go ahead," Sora grinned, brushing off his jean shorts. "We'll be right here when you're done."

I looked back at Riku and he raised an eyebrow. Perhaps it was a good thing that he didn't believe me. I was still sure that even though he would eventually come to accept me as Witch that Riku would keep it a secret, because if he was anything at all, he was reliable, and loyal.

Before Kairi and I started getting ready for the party, she sat me down so she could do my make up. In front of Sora's mother's vanity I pulled off my mushroom brown wig and carefully took out my brown contacts. I felt like I was seeing myself for the first time in a long while.

This was who I am; blond-haired, blue-eyed, somewhat conflicted Naminé.

* * *

**{Roxas BGM}** The Pretty Reckless - _Factory Girl_

I drummed my fingers against the cold beer in my hand. The unfortunate thing about meeting someone you had never actually seen before was obviously that you had never seen them before. No duh. Eye witness accounts only revealed that she was hot, and a girl. That's it. She mostly tagged at night time, and always had a hood on. No one even knew what colour her hair was, although there was one guy who claimed she was blonde. I didn't really care if she was pretty or not (that was just a bonus), what I was interested in was meeting my idol.

"Hi, Roxas."

I looked up from my phone to see Olette standing- or rather _posing- _in front of me. I looked down in disappointment. Not that it wasn't… pleasant… to see Olette, but I was really hoping to see Witch- not that I knew what she looked like, but- I guess I might be able to guess from her appearance. It was possible. But then again, she might just look like someone average, like that girl I'd met yesterday; Naminé.

I looked up at Olette again. As a guy, I'd like to admit that it wasn't my fault the first thing I was drawn to was her breasts. If you ask me in recollection, I guess I could also blame it on being a tiny bit uninhibited. Olette was wearing a slim-fitting (read: slim-squishing) black dress which looked incredibly uncomfortable. The reason I was trying to look away from her chest was because it looked like they had been pushed up to her ears. My eyes trailed down her legs to incredibly high heels that looked twice as uncomfortable as her dress.

"Hey Olette, do you want to sit down?" I asked, because I'd want to sit down too if I was in heels like those. No, I hadn't actually worn a pair before… Okay- _once. _On a dare. It was Kairi's dare by the way, and they were kitten heels. Eh-what?

Anyway, Olette sat right beside me even though the couch was pretty long, and the night was pretty hot, and why had I decided to wear jeans when it was perfectly _acceptable_ to wear shorts- goddammit. She crossed one leg over the other, a trait in girls and guys that I was surprisingly attracted to. There was something about how nicely the back of the knee slotted right over the kneecap. Still. She pressed herself right into me- trying to merge into me like an amoeba, looping her hand around so that it rested on my other shoulder. I felt uncomfortable. I drank a little more beer. I thought it would be rude to simply return to my phone when she was so gallantly vying for attention, so I tried to inch away in order to turn to her and ask, "So how have you been doing lately?"

"Oh, my family just returned from Radiant Garden."

"How was that?"

"It was amazing!" she gestured with her left hand a lot. "The shopping was amazing, I bought like several pairs of Louie Vuitton's, and you don't understand how amazing they all are. There's this one pair…" Eventually I was reduced to smiling and nodding at the right intervals, saying 'yes' whenever Olette expected an answer. I kept on looking around, seeing if there were any girls at the party I didn't recognise. To my credit, I recognised most of them, but there were some from other grades I wasn't sure of. Everybody and their dog had come to this party. Vanitas had probably invited six, maybe eight people, tops, but apparently the chain of command for gossip party invites was something greater than my puny mind could come to comprehend.

It had been almost thirty minutes since Olette had come to sit down, and she had changed the topic from shoes to guys at the party who had tried to feel her up. I was bored out of my mind. I'd tried to switch the conversation topic to movies and- god forbid- school, but Olette just kept on swerving it back to… mindless _stuff_. My brain was probably about to implode from boredom.

I was tempted to check my phone again when I saw Sora weaving through the crowd chewing on a slice of pizza. If Sora was there, then Kairi was probably there too since the both of them were basically Siamese twins. If Kairi was here then there was a good chance Witch was there too.

Olette grabbed my chin and focused it on her. I was feeling really freaked out right now. "Roxas, what are you looking for?" I gently pushed her hand away.

"I'm waiting on someone."

"Well who is she?" Olette demanded. The tone sounded a little irritated. Maybe I'd made the fact that I wasn't interested in our one-sided conversation too obvious.

"How did you know it was a girl?" I answered seriously.

"There's a girl?" she asked. I sent her a confused look. I thought she'd figured out that it was a girl.

"Are you alright Olette? You sound a little choked. It's probably your dress, it looks a little tight," I replied, getting up to go to the refreshment table. I brought her back some water but her face was flushed and she snatched it out of my hand as if she was pissed at me. I raised my eyebrow, "Did I say something wrong?"

Olette was about to answer when Hayner grabbed my shoulder and turned me around. "Man, you will not believe this. There's a girl outside talking to Riku, and man she is _hot_. I mean like- smoking hot!"

"Does she go to our school?" I asked immediately.

He shook his head, looking back to the entrance of this section of the house, "I don't think so, man. I would have recognised a hottie like her." He looked behind at Olette, grinning at her, "Oh, hey Ollie."

I turned back too, she looked like she was about to pop a gasket.

"Do you think that's Riku's cousin or something?" I asked, but I didn't receive a response.

"Sup, Hayner." Olette finally answered. "Does this mystery girl have a name?" she said through gritted teeth. I don't think answering that was safe, no matter what Hayner had to say.

There was a large whooping and wolf whistles coming from the next room before he saw the crowd part and allow a head of platinum blonde hair through.

For the next minute my mind was completely wiped blank of things to say as I saw the most beautiful girl break through the crowd. It didn't even come to my mind that this girl might be Witch- I was just so gobsmacked by her appearance, and the aura she conjured just by being there.

Asymmetrical platinum blond sex-hair bounced about her head, a messy fringe shading bright blue eyes that popped because of smoky-black eye shadow. Her lips, pale nude, curled into a smirk as she looked around the room, eyes locking onto their target. She was quite small, but her body was lithe, and slim, and her curves were to die for.

I pulled my vision up to her face just in time to notice that she was making her way toward me.

Start the internal panic.

The crowd suddenly became silent as they watched her stride forward. Each step _echoing._ Olette moved to step in front of me when the blonde bombshell stopped walking. She sent a flirtatious wink in Olette's direction and the brunette stepped backward, aghast. She moved to stand in front of me, giving me a special look, a special look that encompassed confidence, lust, and superiority all at once.

"Roxas, I presume?"

I gulped.

The silence was deafening.

"I'm Witch."

* * *

**{Roxas BGM} **Banks - _Before I Met You_

"Witch?!"

The room exploded into a cacophony of murmurs and suspicious stares. It didn't matter to me.

Witch.

She was standing in front of me. Living. Breathing. Not a figment of my most hopeful dreams anymore. A being constructed of beautiful beliefs, build from imagination, and apparently, the blood of a goddess.

I couldn't believe she was standing right here in front of me.

And I was standing right in front of her, my tongue hanging out like a brain-dead puppy. I focused on closing it, biting my lip as I desperately tried to recover the missing half of my vocabulary.

"I'm- it's honoured to… I mean I'm-" I could tell my face had morphed into a giant stop sign. Not only was it fire truck red, but I really needed to just stich my lips together. After several moments of awkward silence I composed myself. I needed to get away from this room. The stares of lusting boys and jealous girls always made me sick to my stomach. But Witch seemed fine, staring at me and me only with a cute little Cheshire smile, taunting secrets behind those full, luscious lips. "It feels surreal to meet you." Good one Roxas. Looks like you can claw away from absolute mortification after all. "Let's speak go somewhere less… crowded."

She nodded happily, reaching forward to loop her arm around my left one boldly. As we stepped out of the sitting room the whispering around us got louder and louder, until it returned to its normal volume. Apparently the people in the pool next to us heard too because a large number of them watched us walk by as we passed. I didn't know how she could deal with this. I mean, I liked people staring at me when I was performing but… there was something about being on stage that stole my stage fright away. But Witch… it was like she was a real life celebrity, but I knew she was more than that.

She was an urban myth made real.

"This place is beautiful," Witch said, her arm slipping from mine as she trotted forward a few more paces.

I watched her- and I mean really _watched her_ in that moment. The air was warm. Cobblestone paths lie crooked and jagged beneath my sneakers. Neon fireflies hovered, and flitted, and did whatever little light bulbs did, swinging harmoniously beneath the navy night. The lanterns faded and blurred into the sky. The fairy lights hung from the trees above her head, splashing a golden halo about the waterfall of golden tresses.

I was drunk of infinites. I'd never felt so completely infatuated before. I felt sick, and warm. But I felt delight, and immortal. She'd said a grand total of ten or twelve words to me, but… Maybe it was the pre-emptive walls I placed up, and _swore_ to keep up before I met her but I felt those inhibitions tumbling down. It might have been the alcohol swimming through my system, could have been, _could…_

"So," she said, walking backwards, "now that I've announced myself, is there anything you'd like to ask me?"

_Where's the pink castle in your pictures? Does the blond hero have a name? How do you come up with your designs? How long have you been painting? Why are you called Witch?_

There were so many questions rushing to the front of my mind that they all crashed in an attempt to reach my mouth. I was again momentarily brain dead. I didn't like this. If I had to guess, I'd say that Witch got bored of brain-dead guys pretty fast. _Why isn't anything WORKING?! _

"I'm so sorry for this perpetual awkwardness, I just can't believe that you're actually here."

She stood still for a moment, regarding him with blue eyes filled with warmth, "I hope it doesn't stay like that. I'm a fan of your music. I'd like to know how the mind of a great composer works."

"Likewise."

"Alright, so I propose a game. First we need to find some alcohol." Luckily for her, there were coolers of alcohol almost everywhere. They moved into one of the adjoined bedrooms where a group of kids were sharing one of those communal bongs.

"Do you guys have any drinks here?" I asked them. Most of these kids were from the creative department clique, people that I frequently talked to. I could see Pence lounging next to a rather cute brunette, and they were sharing piped mouthpiece.

"Hey, Roxas," he greeted cheerily, "Who's your friend?"

"She's actually someone you might know," I said as Witch bent down to collect some drinks from a cooler. "Guys, this is Witch."

Most of the guys there were obviously stoned, but each heard the title and the brunette next to Pence started clapping. Before she returned to me, they were clapping for her. I was surprised. These people didn't even know if she was really Witch, hell, _I_ wasn't fully convinced. Her lips stretched into a beautiful smile and she bowed gracefully, crossing one leg over the other as she extended her arms.

Witch passed me a beer as she swung a bottle of peppermint schnapps from between her middle and forefinger.

"Okay, we can start 20 Questions now."

"Do you really need to drink to play this game?" I asked.

"Yes," she replied. "C'mon, while we try to find a place to sit."

"Alright," I chuckled quietly, "what are the rules?"

"Answer or drink."

"What's your real name?" I said immediately.

She turned her head to regard me and narrowed her blue eyes playfully before taking a quick swig. She coughed a little but regained her composure quickly. "What was the name of the first song you ever wrote?"

I paused to think, wondering if I should give her the name of the first song I released, or the really raw stuff, the before-I-was-good-enough-to-do-anything stuff.

"My first attempt was called 'Stevie'. The first song I ever finished was called 'Fauxame'. What prompted you to begin art?"

"When I was eleven, I broke my leg in gymnastics training, and in the hospital I started drawing, and started loving it." She recalled the memory fondly, if the warm smile directed at nothing in particular said anything. I believed with Witch it could mean boundless things. "Who's Stevie?"

I should have expected that one. I could have answered honestly, but she'd probably be bored of the answer, so I took a drink. "So the rumours that you free run are true?"

"Yeah. Free running's a little step up from gymnastics, it's challenging in a totally different way." I could tell. Even though Witch was small her figure was toned and shapely, quite thin, but balanced beautifully into a magnificent creature. "How did you assemble your band?"

"Well, if you know a handful of talented musicians who play different instruments, why not try right? The guys, and Kairi of course, aren't sure what to do with themselves right now, so I guess vying for rock stardom might be a pretty cool thing to do," I said casually.

Some of my other band members might be performing in Dusk as a hobby, but I'd known this was for me since the very beginning. If I didn't have my band, I'd be going it alone; as long as I was creating music, I was happy. This joy from creation was why I felt Witch and I would be kindred spirits of a kind. It made sense, right? "What's the name of the blond hero who appears in some of your murals?"

She kept her face noticeably stony as she smoothly brought the bottle to her lips. Her next question took her some time to compose, but it was simple and to the point. "Who's Fauxame?"

"How do you know it's a person?" I asked, but I could tell by the arch of her eyebrows what she meant to say 'It's still my turn'. "Fauxame is a faceless person from my past. She or he was important to me a long time ago."

"Aw, c'mon," she goaded, "you can't really consider that an answer."

"I'd be willing to take the drink if you aren't going to take that."

Witch blinked her wide blue eyes and sipped her drink, even though she hadn't been prompted to. I couldn't stop staring at the shape of her lips wrapping around the neck of the bottle. I swallowed. I was starting to sway. I never considered myself a heavy drinker, but it took me a good long while before I actually became drunk.

I repeated myself. "How do you know it's a person?" I could tell immediately after I said it that I'd wasted my question.

"Women's intuition." Witch saw me give her a 'really?' face, grinned and took a sip of her drink. She didn't seem to be showing any external signs intoxication. I don't know. Maybe she went to parties like this one all the time. She might be a tank when it came to drinking. "Are you a virgin?"

The heat spread over my face slowly, but I shook my head, "No." She absorbed the information, looking like a scientist as she did. It wasn't until she looked back at me that I realised it was my turn though. "Oh… Have you ever been in love?"

"I don't believe in love."

"Oh…"

"Well, this looks like a nice spot to sit down," Witch said.

I looked around. This was Vanitas' garden pond. It was a section of the mansion that combined indoors and outdoors simultaneously. A dining room and a lounge room lie adjacent to a large pool of water. The hallway on the second floor, over the lounge room and dining room, were separated from the outdoors by rectangular bars of wood. Stairs from the second floor led down into the area surrounding the pool. The pond itself was littered with growing islands of flora and trees strung with fairly lights, a hardwood floor surrounded it on the areas opposite the marble floor of the stairs and the dining room. It was beautiful. Vanitas' mansion was always filled with amazing things. The entire area was sheltered by a wooden ceiling, the lacquered wood matching the barrier of the second floor, but there were no walls sheltering the area opposite this side of the mansion, so they were at mercy of the woods surrounding the mansion. That's why it was a seamless blend of outdoors and indoors. Witch was enchanted.

There were already a few teenagers here, mostly members of Kairi's clique. We were about to pass them by but Olette spotted us and waved. "Roxas, come here!"

I looked back at Witch and her eyes widened as she backtracked like a deer caught in headlights.

"C'mon."

"No."

"Hey, Roxy," Kairi grinned, waving them over, "we've been waiting for you to find us. You and your friend come join us." The group was sitting on the brown wooden planks near the side of the pond closest to the forest in quite a large circle. Sitting from Kairi counter clockwise was Olette, Hayner, Shiki, Selphie, Xion, Riku, Sora, and Ventus.

"Speaking of," Hayner said, leering at their newcomer in a way that made Roxas uncomfortable, "What's your name, hot stuff?"

Witch sat down and sipped on the bottle in her hand, completely ignoring Hayner. Roxas could tell that he was getting pissed off. Hayner was Captain of the Soccer Team, he wasn't used to getting ignored. She put her bottle down and turned to Roxas, and then at the people who were staring at her. "Oh, I'm sorry. Hayner, I don't like the way you addressed me."

"Oh," I really had to stop myself from laughing outwardly at that comment. There were very few who had the gall to stand up to someone as popular as Hayner. Even I sometimes was hesitant about calling him off for his apparent stupidity. "I'm sorry. What is your name?"

"You can call me Witch," she replied, and for a moment the entire group was silent.

After the longest, most uncomfortable few seconds, Olette said, "Prove it."

"I haven't brought anything to verify whether I'm the Witch you're all thinking about. You'll just have to trust me," she said, shrugging her shoulders. "Personally, I don't care whether you think I'm the real thing or not."

"Poser," Selphie stated helpfully.

"They are your beliefs and I respect that."

"How is Selphie posing?" Olette said, glaring at Witch. "You're the one pretending to be something you're no- wait a second, what did you say?"

Witch raised a perfectly sculpted raised eyebrow, "I said 'They are your beliefs and I respect that'."

"You're not even going to reply snarkily?"

Xion smiled, "She's confused because she thought you'd say something like, 'Right back at 'cha'."

"I wouldn't say I'm a poser, but Witch isn't my real name, if you haven't figured it out already," she said softly.

"What is your real name?" Sora said stupidly.

I face-palmed and Witch took another swig of schnapps.

* * *

**{Roxas BGM}** Cobra Starship - _The City Is At War_

She leant into my shoulder, placing her farthest hand on it so she was twisted towards me, whispering into my ear, "Roxas, I'm not good at human interaction. I've already made some of these specimen angry." The both of us started giggling quietly, but the others were looking at us weirdly. I hope they hadn't heard what Witch said, she was already having a hard enough time as it was.

"What were you guys talking about before we got here?" I asked them. Judging by their guilty looks and about how half of them looked away while the others guiltily looked at Witch, they-

Olette said, "Oh, noth-"

"We were actually talking about you, Witch," Sora said.

"Shut up, Sora," Riku laughed.

"There are more interesting things to discuss than me," Witch said, glancing around the circle. "That it's the only thing you can think about at the moment is kind of sad."

"What do you think about in your spare time then, huh?" Olette asked, crossing her arms over her chest. Everything looked twice as uncomfortable in that dress.

"Well, one thing I like to do for fun is wonder how the next super species would develop, you know, depending on what was left behind by humans of this era."

"Oh," Olette said, "that's actually kind of interesting."

"Right?" Witch agreed. "I mean, think about it; what if the last structure left after the apocalypse was an abandoned theatre, and all the instruments were still intact. They'd think the people from before were pagan gods who ruled using sound."

I placed my chin in my right hand as I turned my attention to Witch as she thought up a universe entirely dedicated to music. She thought of policies, and governments, kingdoms, and supernatural beings called 'sound elementals' who could control music, each had perfect pitch and vocal chords that could imitate the sound and intonation of different people. People that weren't gifted with musical talent, or were tone deaf had it the hardest, but ever the supporter of the underdog, she detailed the life of a young woman or man who could feel the sound through the vibrations music created.

Witch motioned her ideas with grandeur gestures, and not only that, she stopped in between ideas until they started flowing like a rushing river, the science of music becoming the ultimate means of communication, the ultimate punishment before death was to have your tongue cut out, scientists discovering notes that didn't exist before, until the world in Witch's head could communicate through music alone. This new super species would eventually drop words altogether, and live in the magic of sound forever.

She was so smart, and incredibly creative, more strange than that was she was _making it up_ as she went along, in the way I imagined Mozart did whenever he was composing music. Witch wasn't only a beauty, she really was an artistic genius.

She lived in a completely different world from the rest of us.

"Do you often think of the apocalypse?"

"All the time," she replied, "I mean, I don't wish it upon anyone, but to see how it comes along would be so interesting. There are so many ideas to talk about. One of the more boring ones would be to be wiped out by a meteor."

"Like the dinosaurs?" Shiki and Hayner said at the same time.

"Right! But how else is an entire species going to fully devolve into something else?" she asked them.

"Evolution," Riku said, "a species sometimes produces the traits necessary to keep on living in their altered environment. Once upon a time, giraffes had short necks too, but only the ones with long necks kept on living."

"Is that how it works?!" Sora asked in amazement. "Riku! You tricked me! You told me that giraffes kept on stretching their necks until they could reach the trees!"

"That's Gradualism," Olette told the other brunet, "and it's apparently wrong."

"It is?" Shiki said.

"Yeah," Kairi answered, "Gradualism assumes that if you amputate your arm, then your kids will also be born with no arms."

"That's stupid," said Xion.

"Yeah," I added. "We live by 'Survival of the fittest'."

"You're catching on!" Witch said excitedly. "But what I like to wonder about is humans, and how we've adapted to our environments. We're a super species because we can kill almost, possibly everything in the food chain. But what happens when the world is completely flooded and because humans have relied on technology, things start to fall apart? Are we gonna sprout fins and Under-The-Sea this bitch?"

"Bioshock!" Ventus said gleefully. He gave Sora a high-five. I grinned, as did Witch.

"I'd give anything to speak to a man like Andrew Ryan though," she laughed.

So she played video games as well? Witch was making herself out to be a real catch.

"What are the chances of someone creating a plasmid though?" Kairi said.

"Yes," said Witch, "someone's going to need to make a genetic anomaly, a way for humans to survive underneath the ocean, and for us to reproduce with these genes in order to fully adapt to an undersea environment. That, or find a way to make something as amazing as an undersea city."

"It sounds impossible," Selphie said glumly.

"But it won't be. Humans are advancing so fast, three generations, maybe seven- nine generations from now, they're going to seriously start thinking of an answer. It would be incredible to live during that time, imagine the scientific possibilities."

"Come now, growing gills?" Olette scoffed. "There are some things humans can't do."

Witch frowned and took another sip of her drink, "'The mind that is closed will never find meaning, it finds stagnancy in out-dated beliefs. It is detached from the flow of wisdom'."

"Are you calling me 'out dated'?"

"No," Witch said, her frown becoming deeper, "I'm saying you're a little bit of an extreme conservatist."

"Don't lump me in with those freaks!"

"I never said it was a bad thing," Witch said, narrowing her eyes.

"I can tell by your tone," Olette growled.

"You can't tell anything from my tone."

"I can tell that you're a stupid bitch," Olette got up as she snarled. Witch got up too, so I did as well, and before we knew it, the entire circle was up.

Witch's expression was blank as she stared Olette down, but after a moment of tense silence her wrist flicked and she spilled the rest of her peppermint schnapps all down Olette's dress.

"This is a complete waste of a perfectly fine drink." Witch started walking off, but stopped when I jogged up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. The empty bottle of schnapps was shaking in her hands. She looked at him with wide, frightened eyes. The both of them looked at Olette, surrounded by her friends that were asking her if she was alright or not. She looked down at the schnapps and dropped the bottle onto the floor. She looked guilty.

"R-Roxas…" she said, voice tripping.

"Are you okay?"

Witch sucked in her breath and exhaled it out, turning to the rather surprised group and bowing dramatically, just as she had in front of the art students. "A pleasure, to meet all of you."

Olette and Selphie glared back at her, but their remaining group waved in confusion as I escorted her away.

* * *

**{Roxas BGM} **Neon Hitch - _Some Like It Hot feat. Kinetics_

In search of more peppermint schnapps, we ventured to the other side of the mansion. I checked the time, we were due to perform another set of songs in fifteen minutes. The stage was next to Vanitas' incredible pool.

"Roxas, what I did back to Olette back there… I don't usually do things like that."

"Well you should," I told her, "It put her in her place."

"What?"

I shrugged, "While I wouldn't have gone full out like you did, someone needed to stand up to her. People like Olette and Hayner, good-looking, intelligent people, sometimes their popularity gets to their head, and they come off as more asshole-ish than they really are. It's happened to most people in our group, all throughout middle school, Riku, Sora, Kairi, Ventus, myself. But there are some people that never grew out of their twelvie stage. We just have to remind them to grow up sometimes."

We'd scrounged through our fourth cooler before Naminé found her peppermint schnapps. I was probably on my fifth beer and the edge of my vision was blurring. Sitting in a closed off sitting area with several different layers of grass was the posse for my band. My band, Dusk, was made up of me, Vanitas, Kairi, and my best friend Axel. I didn't get a lot of time to hang out with him during the week because he worked… well, let's just say that Axel did a lot of interesting things to get the bills paid.

"Hold this, will you?" Witch asked as she thrust her drink into Roxas' free hand. She bent to unzip her thigh harness bag and pulled out a packet of cigarettes and a lighter. Holding the stick between her teeth she asked, "Do you want one?"

I shook my head. I'd been trying to quit, ever since Prince had caught me puffing in the garage and yelled at my mom for not doing anything. It upset my mom, and that's why I'd tried to keep clean, but admittedly every time Prince spoke to me the urge to light one up build more and more.

"C'mon, let's meet my band."

Witch blew out a stream of smoke and she bent to retrieve her schnapps. I could tell by her facial expression that she wasn't looking forward to it. I knew she didn't enjoy meeting new people, but these people were college-aged, they'd be more mature than Olette. And they were close friends, maybe she'd click with some of them.

"Roxas!" Axel called me over and Witch gave me a worried look.

"Don't worry, these guys are cool," I assured her.

"Who's the cutie next to you?"

"This is-" I was about to say when Larx, Axel's ex-boyfriend turned around and choked on his beer.

"Oh my god, Larxene," Witch said, stepping backwards a little bit.

"Larx, you know Witch?"

"Witch?!" Larx said, his pitch going up abnormally high. He forced himself up, using Demyx as a stool and whipping Zexion in the face lightly with his belt chains. He grabbed Witch's arm and dragged her off until they were out of earshot.

I stared at them in confusion as I watched the both of them interact. I sat down next to Axel and took another sip of beer.

"Do you think she's really Witch?" Axel asked me.

"Well, I believed her up until Larx yelled it surprised-like a moment ago." I narrowed my eyes, trying to focus on Demyx and his sitar, "Did Witch just call Larx 'Larxene'? Sounds like a girl's name, right?"

"Uh, yeah," Axel agreed.

I watched in confusion as Larx and Witch seemed to be arguing. The taller blond flipped out his phone and called up a number while Witch opened her thigh harness bag and pulled out a brown moleskin notebook. Larx snatched it and started flipping through it. Witch looked anxious, tapping her boot and crossing her arms over her chest. The person on the other end of the line told Larx what he wanted to hear and he nodded his head, running a hand through his hair, the two antennae sticking up regardless. He shoved the moleskin back at her and sighed, shaking his head as he looked down.

"Hey," Demyx said, "the both of them look similar, don't they?"

"Yeah, they could pass as siblings," Axel said.

"Guys," Larx said, "this is my cousin, Witch."

"So you _do_ know each other?" said Demyx.

Larx narrowed his eyes, "I think we've already established this, Dipshit. I _obviously_ didn't know she was Witch until about two minutes ago though." He tossed Witch's moleskin my way and I looked down at it guiltily.

"Um, is it alright if I look at this?" For a moment I thought that she was going to say no, but she bit her lip and looked at Larx for a moment, and then she nodded.

I flipped through them leisurely examining each piece for details and hidden meanings. Each were amazing in their own respect, even the sketches were done with a kind of careless hand, but managed to look spectacular nonetheless. It was incredible. While Witch had an underlying, carefree movement to her work, some of them were so precise that they could have been photographs.

"I brought this, just in case you didn't believe me."

I scanned another page of sketches, these of strange black beetle creatures with bright beady eyes. "How come you didn't show this to Olette when she asked you to prove it?"

"I hardly care what someone like her thinks of me." She turned to Demyx and Axel extending her hand across the circle, "Hi, I'm Witch." She shook each of their hands in turn.

"It's awesome to meet an urban legend in person, especially if it gets Roxas to shut up about you for a few hours."

"Axel!"

Demyx addressed Larx, "So, you just found out that she's Witch, does that mean you know what her real name is?"

"No, Dem, I've never actually known her name before tonight."

"What? But isn't that a little-?"

Axel and I burst into laughter, "Sarcasm, Dem!" Axel said.

"But really, why don't you tell us your real name?"

Zexion sighed, and without looking up from the book he was reading, said, "Because if the authorities knew who she was, she could be charged with vandalising."

It was at that moment that Ventus and Vanitas came to join the group with a huge Chinese takeaway box of M&M's.

"Hi," said Ventus.

Vanitas nodded in Witch's direction, "Kudos for putting Olette in her place. I'd probably murder her if I could get away with it."

"Vanitas!"

"It isn't murder if you say sorry."

"Witch!"

Axel and Demyx laughed, "What are you? The Evans Babysitter Service? Let the sadistic murderers-to-be have their fun."

Demyx leant over to grab a bunch of M&M's, throwing them into his mouth. He chewed for a few seconds before turning around and spitting it out. "Gross! Vanitas, did you mix the M&M's with the Skittles again?"

"Errors were made. Others will be blamed."

Roxas noticed that Witch took out a handful from the Chinese box and started picking out the green M&M's, and popping them into her mouth placing the rest back.

"So," Ventus asked Witch, "have you ever thought about revealing who you are?"

Witch shrugged. My eyes travelled from her shoulders down to the gentle slope of her stomach, my face started heating up. I took another swig of beer, which I now realised adopted a kind of soda-ish taste.

"I don't see how it would matter. I don't think anyone's aware of who I am when I'm not Witch."

"Are you wearing a wig?"

"Or contacts?"

She shook her head, "You can see if you'd like."

Larx tugged at her hair, but it was firmly rooted to her head.

Zexion closed his book and placed his head in his left hand, "It's like a mask, except in reverse."

"So, do you go to school around here?"

Witch narrowed her eyes, "I'm not answering that."

"Okay, but you're saying you don't not attend school here?" Ventus grinned at her.

"No… wait- yes?"

"She said yes!" Ventus cheered, high-fiving Demyx.

"Go fuck yourself," she replied good naturedly.

"Gutter mouth," Demyx teased.

Her smile only widened, "I don't spew profanities. I enunciate them, like a fucking lady."

I looked down at my phone time with widened eyes, "Hey, c'mon guys. It's time for us to do the last set for tonight."

* * *

_Fauxame_

Written and composed by Roxas Evans

Performed by Dusk

I really couldn't care,  
That you are socially impaired,  
But would you rather be trapped,  
By that fourth-walled screen?  
There are beautiful things out there,  
And secrets for me to share.

Faze me out of my fantasies,  
And into something better.  
We can topple the fallacy,  
But once we touch the centre,  
We'll reach the sky, no more lies,  
Spread our wings and take flight,  
Because it's all we need;  
You and me.

Would you rather be a butterfly?  
Or perhaps a type of bird?  
Would you climb the highest towers,  
If it meant you would be heard?  
I bet a lone wolf is your style,  
I'd walk ten miles,  
If you'd acknowledge me too.

Chorus

(Fauxame, Fauxame) x8

Chorus

* * *

**{Roxas BGM} **Banks - _This Is What It Feels Like_

"Why do you feel the need to hide behind the persona of something else?" Zexion asked her.

I felt so tired. I phased into existence and lifted my head from Witch's shoulder. It's not that I didn't find the conversation interesting, it's just that I guess I'd been drinking a little too much. Zexion and Witch had been burning through topics. She'd recalled the world made of music and Demyx had been completely delighted. They touched on a lot of interesting topics, from morality to the situation in different parts of the world; advancing piracy in the Caribbean, news of a man that was raised as a gorilla in Africa, the Greek (NOT ROMAN- Zexion was particularly sensitive about that) Gods and Goddesses, and many other interesting topics I wished he could have joined, if the stupid beer hadn't tied my tongue into uselessness.

"Ah, I think we should find you a different place to rest, Roxas."

I yawned, but if anything it make me wake up more. "Alright, I know a place."

"Lead the way," she replied, looping her arm in his as they strode away from their group.

"It's pretty hot tonight, huh?" I said, trying to pick a topic of conversation. It had been fine when we were with friends, but I couldn't remember how I spoke to her when we were alone. She was so intelligent, philosophical, and a beauty, how was I supposed to entertain her for more than a few seconds?

"Oh please, Roxas. Surely you can think about something better to speak about than a triviality like weather?" she smiled at me over her shoulder and something fluttered around my neck that made me suddenly feel shy.

"Sorry," I replied sarcastically, teasingly, "I don't normally jump into the Kutta–Joukowski theorem with people I've barely met."

"Ah, so you're interested in aerodynamics?" she replied, falling in stride with me.

"Yeah," I nodded. "My brother, he was a mechanic and once upon a time I wanted to be one too. I still might, I'm not sure," I said before shaking his head, "but I'm sure something like that wouldn't interest you."

"On the contrary, I _love_ mechanics."

"You do?"

"I love hands, the study of hands, the bones in hands, drawing hands," she sighed into the night, gazing at the stars with wide blue eyes. "Your hands… they're callous."

"Yes," I said, because he didn't know how else to respond.

"Because you're a musician."

"Yes."

"Do you play more than the guitar?"

"Yes."

"You don't have to be so monotonous with me, Rox."

Her smile was radiant.

"I…" I said, trying to form his feelings into words. "To be honest, I don't know if someone like me could entertain you for very long."

She turned around, eyes wide and surprised as she wiggled a beer from it's packaging. When had she brought that along? I didn't even realise she was holding it. "I will readily admit, I've never met someone quite so honest before. You think I'm the kind of girl who will throw you away when I'm bored of you?"

"Well, no offense, but that is the impression a girl like you would give off. If someone had the amount of power you do, why couldn't you do something needlessly cruel? People will still love you either way."

Witch twirled on the spot lightly, bumping into my shoulder with her own, "But would _you_ love me? If I played with your heart and threw it out the next day. Could you love me again?"

"…I- yes."

"Really?"

"I could."

She offered me a beer. Against my better judgement, I took it and they tapped it against her can, "You have enough love for me for the both of us."

I didn't want to question exactly what that meant, so I led her to a small secluded part of the gardens hidden by trees and vines overgrown. The small oasis was a koi pond littered with lilypads and large orange, black, and white fish. Right next to the pond was a small platform suspended by rope, hanging from four connecting wooden posts. The walls around this platform were illuminated by soft lights shining behind the greenery, just enough to see, not enough to subdue the romantic tone.

Witch removed her boots and I followed suit, slipping off my sneakers and joining her on the platform as she unscrewed her new bottle of schnapps. "Yep, that ought to do it."

"Do what?"

"Don't worry your pretty little head," she replied.

"Do you really think we need to drink to become friends?"

"Roxas, you are a depressingly honest person. But I am not. The only way you're going to extract anything worthwhile from me is with a thick pair of alcohol spectacles."

_Beer goggles?_

"That's quite sad."

"You're telling me."

"So, has your opinion of me changed since the night began?"

"What?"

"I can tell already," she replied, raising one of her hands, "you've put me on some kind of pedestal. Whether it's because of my tagging or my attitude- tch- you've already placed me on a higher scale then you."

"How can I not?" I asked, slightly distressed. "You're amazing."

"No, _you're_ amazing," she said, reaching forward to place a hand on his shoulder. "I'd hate to meet someone I idolise. If I ever had the chance to meet Picasso or Kurt Cobain in real life, I would choke on my tongue and shit myself."

"Admittedly, yeah. It is kind of scary, but the mystery of a person is what draws me in so much."

While she was mixing more Coke (when had she gotten that?) and alcohol I took the time to take in her beauty again, doubting how anyone had never seen her before. I liked her hands too, thin and willowy, just like her body. The fabric of her top swelled at her breasts, distorting the design on her shirt and pulling the cloth up to reveal more tantalising skin. I loved the heart-shaped curve of her hips and how much of her mile-long legs the shorts revealed. Her skin _glowed_.

"I'm nothing special."

"That's probably why you are."

Witch looked up from beneath her bangs and smiled, even though her eyes seemed somewhat doubtful, "I'm sick of talking about myself."

"You've barely said anything," I replied, reaching forward to tuck a strand behind her ear. Later I'd blame the forwardness on the alcohol, even though I wasn't remotely drunk yet. "I have an idea."

"Shoot."

"So let's start off where we were before. I'll ask you a question and if you can't answer, you take a shot worth of alcohol, and vice versa."

I was pretty damn sure I shouldn't be drinking more of this poison, but an alcohol addled mind didn't think about the consequences until the morning.

"You first."

"What's your real name?"

She immediately took a sip of her beer, furrowing her eyebrows as if she was mock-angry at me. I smiled. I guessed I should have expected that response from her. Normally I wouldn't try to ask the same question twice, but… beer.

"We've been over this, Roxas."

"Fine."

"How old are you?"

"I'm eighteen. My birthday was on the thirteenth of January. How old are you?"

Her eyes blinked and motioned to her drink, "I'm seventeen. My birthday's in October. Are you still in love with that girl?"

"What girl?" I asked too defensively. Truthfully though, I didn't know who she was talking to.

"The one that was sticking to you like glue." Witch pulled at some of her side bangs, tilting her head to the side in a way that was kind of familiar to me, "Brown hair? Green eyes?"

"Olette?" Really? "How did you know I used to like her?"

"It's my turn." Her words were quiet but firm.

"No. I'm not. So, how did you know I used to like her?" I repeated.

Witch narrowed her eyes and drank again. Probably 'women's intuition' again.

I rolled onto my side, adjusting one of the pillows so my head was supported, "Okay, your turn."

"Do you think I'm pretty?" she slurred.

"I… Yes. One of the most beautiful girls I've ever met."

"Hey," she pointed at me drunkenly, pressing her forehead into my shoulder. Her presence was warm and welcomed, "you're not allowed to lie. If you can't answer, just drink."

"I'm not lying," I assured. Why was it so hard for her to believe?

"Really?... No one's ever called me pretty before."

"I find that hard to believe."

"You wouldn't like me," she nuzzled further into my shoulder. "I mean… you wouldn't like me like you do, if you realised how truly pathetic I am."

"Please don't speak like that. Please don't say something like that to someone who adores you."

"So I was right. You really are interested in my image alone?" she demanded.

"No."

I finished off my drink.

"How did you come to hate yourself so much?"

She laughed manically and finished off her beer, reaching for another one. While she was reaching over she must have misjudged the distance because she ended up toppling over me until we were nose to nose. Her scent overwhelmed me, cigarette smoke and aloe vera, softness pressed against my chest and feathered eyelashes swept against my cheek.

I had no idea who made the first move but suddenly her lips were pressed to mine and her hands were gripping my hair like a lifeline. Pleasure overwhelmed me and everything hazed as she straddled my lap, feathering kisses from my lips, to my cheek, to my neck. No rational explanation could come between us as heat exploded like fireworks and pleasing shudders ran down her naked spine.

Zippers opened and clasps were undone. Calloused fingertips ran down skin sticky with sweat but soft as satin. I didn't need to say something as cliché as fireworks, but a creeping nirvana made everything in the world blurred and beautiful. Lips were bitten while they muttered in exhalation. Gasps and lust-filled whispers filled the air, sounds taking the form of my name.

**tbc.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Follow Me Down**

[Chapter Four]

* * *

**{Naminé BGM}** Sam Tsui - _Wake Me Up_

I didn't open my eyes when I woke up.

I kept them closed for a blissfully pleasant eternity and wondered why my head hurt, why my skin felt so strangely pleasant, why one side of me was freezing, and the other felt like the surface of the sun.

Releasing a sigh, my eyelashes parted and I found myself staring at a koi pond, fish swimming happily in the morning light.

My first instinct was to cuddle further into the warmth, until I realised exactly who I'd been lying next to.

I moved backwards shocked, but Roxas merely mumbled in his sleep and rolled onto his side so he was facing me. He was like a Grecian god, sculpted and beautiful underneath my fingertips. I looked down at myself, neck and chest covered in hickeys, lacking a bra and my shorts. I was wearing Roxas' jacket for warmth, so I took it off and draped it over him as I slowly started to pull away from him.

It was time for me to pull my first walk of shame.

Oh my god, I had been a virgin last night. I didn't bleed though, I was kind of confused. It didn't hurt as much as other girls (and by other girls, I mean people that had answered Yahoo Answers about this kind of thing) said it would, so I never told him to stop.

Oh my god, I just _slept_ with Roxas Evans.

I pulled on my bra and slipped on my shorts, awkwardly pulling my shoes back on. I couldn't run away fast enough. For all the absolute shit that I talked while I was Witch I was still a scared little girl and I didn't know what to do.

I tried to calm myself once I finally reached the end of the brambles which obscured the way to the oasis. It looked untouched, so hopefully someone hadn't walked in on us for the last six hours or so. I didn't know whether to feel afraid or happy. I pulled out a lighter from my back pocket, and a cigarette from the other, lighting it up as I began my search for Kairi.

Someone tapped me on the shoulder and I nearly punched them. I definitely did choke on my smoke though. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw who it was.

"Oh my god."

"Hi, again, Witch."

The person smiling back at me was none other than Xion Carmichael. She was one of the followers of Olette, but since I was Witch, I didn't have a reason to be rude to her. She'd been quite chill last night. I'm pretty sure she hadn't adopted that cold-hearted-bitch gene yet anyway. I hope she didn't. She was a sheep, but anyone that didn't treat me like Olette and Selphie was an awesome person in my book.

"Oh, hello," I replied, trying to smooth out my hair, taking another drag. She was dressed in a super cute vintage green dress with black polka dots. I hadn't noticed it last night. To be completely honest, I hadn't paid much attention to the triviality of clothes last night, even if I do happen to consider myself a fashion nut. I guess Kairi was rubbing off on me. "I love your dress."

"Thank you! I love what you're wearing too," she gushed, before her expression changed. "I walked over here because you look worried. Is something wrong? Can I help you?"

"Ah yes," I said, trying to organise my thoughts, "have you seen Kairi D'Blanc around here? Or maybe a Sora Leonhart?"

"I'm not sure about Sora, but Kairi's passed out near the pool."

"Thanks so much for your help, Xion." I started walking away when I realised I'd called her by her name. I started walking faster before she realised what I'd done. Burning up the last few inches of the cancer stick, I threw it onto the ground and stubbed it out.

True to word, Kairi was asleep on one of the chaise lounge chairs surrounding the pool. She was using an inflatable dinosaur as a pillow and her head had been crowned with one of the paper crowns from Burger King.

"Kairi, get up," I demanded.

"…I dun wanna go to school today," she moaned.

I rolled my eyes and opened one of the coolers next to her, grabbing a fistful of ice and throwing it down her shirt. I regretted it of course, that was my shirt she was using. I don't exactly know kind of chemical reaction had stormed up in my brain, but I was now feeling the splitting headache I could only assume was the dreaded hangover.

"H-holy shit!" she screeched.

"Awake yet?"

"What did you do that for?!"

"I don't even know," I answered honestly, on the edge of tears because I was so confused. The stress was probably making my hangover worse, so I was in pain, confused, and guilty because I'd done and shouldn't have. "I- I've done something bad. Kairi, I want to leave."

I wasn't speaking as smart, confident Witch. I was pleading to her as shy, naïve Naminé, and she seemed to answer to the big sister call, placing a hand on my shoulder to see if I was okay. "Hey, Nami. You okay?"

"I've screwed up," I said, my voice quivering.

"Hey, hey," she murmured gently, hugging me. "It's okay. Let's go to my car. We'll go to McDonalds and sort it out there." I rubbed at my eyes and nodded my head, inwardly panicking when I saw make up smearing across my hand. Kairi turned around and pulled some make up towelette things out of her purse, cleaning my face with firm precision strokes.

After we got to McDonalds, Kairi waited until I had a hot mocha in one hand and the knife for my pancakes in the other before she even thought about asking me what was wrong.

"It doesn't _hurt_ does it?" my sister asked me, raising an eyebrow. She had her arms crossed on the table, but she didn't sound quite as concerned as she was curious.

I raised an eyebrow in return, "What?"

"Your abdomen," she clarified, motioning to her own stomach.

"Why would you ask me that?" _Didn't you know?_

"I…" Kairi looked down flushing.

I almost choked down by helping of buttery, fluffy goodness and stared her down. "Were you _lying_ to the entire school when you said that you lost your virginity to Riku?"

She snapped faster than I had been expecting, "It was _his_ idea, okay? He wanted people to believe he was straight, so I did him a favour."

So, Kairi was still a virgin. It was kind of interesting to hear, because I had been so jealous of her when I heard that she'd lost her V Card. Oh my god, this made _me_ the slutty sister. Never thought I'd hear myself say that.

She could have told me. During the entire ordeal, the only thing I was really concerned about was that Kairi hadn't told me; her sister.

I just looked down. "I knew going to this party was a bad idea."

"Naminé," Kairi said seriously, "this is stupid but… Roxas didn't _do_ anything to you that you didn't want-?"

"Oh my god, Kairi. Of course not." I said seriously. I couldn't believe she would assume something like that. We'd known Roxas since we were kids. He'd _never_ do something like that, even intoxicated. I was one hundred percent sure.

"He didn't get you drunk on purpose?"

"No," I flushed horribly, and looked down, ashamed. "Actually, that was my idea."

Kairi smiled and pulled her hair back, starting to cut up her own pancakes. I don't know how she ate them without syrup, or honey, or even butter. She must have no soul. "I don't see what the problem is then. You lost your virginity to the guy you've been in love with for years. I don't see the downside."

"Roxas doesn't know it was _me: _Naminé."

The redhead almost choked on her caffeine, "You _still_ haven't told him that _you're_ Witch yet?"

"No!" I replied indignantly.

"Why not?" she demanded.

"Don't you get it? He likes Witch! Not me."

"You _are_ Witch!" she whisper-shouted.

"Witch isn't who I am!"

"Then who are you?"

"…I don't know yet."

Kairi stirred her own coffee for a moment, chewing on her flapjacks before she answered me.

"Why don't you take some time and think about what you really want, and who you really are, and… you know, all that other spiritual bullshit. Then take the time to talk to Roxas about your problem. I hardly think his opinion of you can go down, since he worships the very ground that you walk on, but being the one left behind could change his mind."

"As who? Witch, or myself?"

She shrugged.

* * *

_"Hello?"_

_"Kairi? You sound like absolute shit."_

_"No wonder they call you Prince Charming, Roxas."_

_"Ugh. Please don't say that. But speaking of which, Cinderella left behind a glass slipper this morning."_

_"Did she?"_

_"Mhmm. Witch left behind her sketchbook last night."_

_"Oh."_

_"Is there some way I could… speak to her, or meet up with her, or something?"_

_"Something; give me that, I'll give it to her."_

_"I'd rather give it to her in person."_

_"Roxas."_

_"Please, Kairi? I want to see her again."_

_"But I'm not so sure she doesn't want to see you."_

_"Oh."_

_"Ugh, don't pull that 'kicked puppy' shit on me."_

_"No, it's alright. When can I meet you?"_

_"Ugh! Fine! I'll give you Witch's number, but don't text or call in the next three hours. She's still sleeping a hangover off."_

_"Ah, likewise."_

_"Okay, I'll text it to you. Good morning, Roxas."_

_"You too."_

* * *

**{Riku BGM}** Neon Hitch - Fuck_ U Betta_

Naminé looked absolutely knackered the next time we sat next to her, which was the lunch table in the cafeteria. I reached forward to place my hand on her shoulder briefly, shaking it slowly to wake her up. She looked up, and it was hard to see beyond her glasses, but her eyes were still a little dark from make up.

I found it incredibly hard to believe this girl (wearing her skirt halfway down her calves and the long-sleeved version of the uniform, as well as her brown mushroom wig and brown contacts), had been the sexual deviant blonde bombshell that Witch was. Naminé's personas were on two opposite sides of the spectrum.

Even though she was tired, she was still finishing of her math homework with speed and precision before moving on to eating her sandwich. I had to commend her for that. I hadn't gotten drunk at the party, being too busy babysitting Sora. He wasn't the only one breaking the law last night by consuming a large amount of alcohol. The noise pollution produced was so loud that Vanitas came outside to meet the cops, and paid them off for not chasing the kids down and telling them to shut off the music.

I felt pretty sorry for Vanitas' neighbours.

I was about to ask Naminé how she was feeling when Sora pranced up to us and slid into the seat right next to me. I looked down at my lunch and tried to focus on that instead of how nice it felt to be next to Sora's heat.

"Wow, Riku! You're really cold," he exclaimed, using that excuse to wrap his arms around me and rock us to some imaginary tune in his head.

"Get off me," I growled, pushing Sora off, if only for appearances.

"Spoil sport. How are you doing Naminé?" he asked, pulling a completely one-eighty in tone alone.

By answering, she simply held up her math sheet, completely finished.

I was digging through some trail mix as I looked at Sora out of the corner of my eye, smiling as I saw him interact with Naminé lively. I was so absorbed I didn't notice Sora was digging through it too, looking for the M&M's.

"Sora!"

The brunet clung to me like a lifeline, wheezing out, "Riku! I need chocolaty sustenance!"

"Then go buy a chocolate bar!"

"I'm broke!" he whined, still clinging to me like a limpet.

"Fine," I said, pushing it towards Sora. How could I possibly say no to that face?

"Thank you, Riku!" he exclaimed happily, surprising the me when he landed a slobbery kiss right on my cheek.

I groaned in disgust, wiping the slobber away, "Sora! You're disgusting." Despite the fact that my face was heating up and my skin was tingling in the way it burned whenever Sora touched me.

"No homo," said Kairi.

"So very homo," Sora retorted.

"Ah, this group is lively as always," Hayner said as he seated himself down next to Naminé. It was kind of hilarious how uncomfortable she looked there, especially when Olette sat down next to him.

With incredible timing, Kairi sat down on the other end of Naminé, greeting Hayner and Olette with a huge smile, "Hi guys, what are you doing here?"

"We were actually waiting for you, Kai," Hayner explained. "You see, we've got a favour to ask you."

"This isn't about Witch and Roxas hooking up, is it?" Sora asked.

Naminé started choking on her sandwich, Kairi spat out her tea and I placed his hand over his mouth to stop himself from laughing. I watched Kairi give me a dirty look and shrugged.

Kairi slammed her hand down on the table and gave Sora a death glare, "Sora! You promised you wouldn't tell!" Naminé grabbed Kairi's drink and started chugging it down to stop the choking. Hayner, ever the gentlemen, patted her back until she stopped coughing up a lung.

Olette looked absolutely furious, hiding behind her 'nice girl' façade. I used to smile to appease strangers, but I gave up on it during the second day of Kindergarten.

I was actually up to date with gossip. Being best friends with Kairi made sure of that. I knew Olette had been pining after Roxas for the better half of the last two years, even going as far as announcing her 'hunt' in the girl's locker room. You couldn't expect something as big as Witch to be contained within a small group of friends, especially with a pair of loose lips like Sora's.

"Wow, Witch's got game," Hayner applauded. I noticed how this made Naminé pink up significantly. She pretended to go over her math sheet, looking for errors that probably weren't there. I was in her advanced math class. She was doing fine, which is more than what I had to say for myself, and it was only the first week of the school year.

"I don't know," Olette tried to say nonchalantly. "Isn't it kind of slutty to sleep with a guy that you barely know?"

"Probably," Naminé replied, but I doubted Olette heard it.

The three toned bell signalling the Public Announcement rang through the cafeteria and everyone stopped talking to address their principle, Ruby Carter.

"_Attention students. I've just received word that the local vandal Witch has been photographed using a Destiny Island sport hat. Knowing that Witch is a possible student at our school is both a disgrace and an embarrassment. I urge Witch to come forward and reveal herself, and suffer minor consequences. That is all."_

I looked at Naminé who was staring at the table looking completely lost.

"Anyway," Sora said, returning to their earlier conversation, "Roxas and Witch were both drunk, and smoking hot. I'm not surprised what happened, happened."

"But speaking of," Hayner said. "Witch hasn't been answering Roxas' calls or text messages, so we were wondering if we could speak to her for him."

"No," Kairi said instantly.

"Why not?" Olette asked, trying to keep her smile plastered on.

"If Witch isn't answering his calls, it's because he's coming on too strong."

"So what? She's just going to fuck him and leave him?" Hayner replied angrily. "Being an infamous graffiti artist doesn't give her the right to treat people like trash. Roxas _really_ likes her, and-"

Naminé got up suddenly, "I… have to go to the bathroom."

Hayner raised an eyebrow at her.

I felt kind of sorry for Naminé. Of course she hadn't mean to treat Roxas like that, but if what Sora said is true, Roxas had taken her virginity and she probably didn't know how to react to that. He knew Roxas probably felt the same way too. Still, she had to be careful otherwise she would make herself too obvious.

"Witch isn't like that," Kairi growled at Hayner. "She doesn't hook up with people _randomly. _What happened last night was probably an accident, and now she's figuring out what to do about it. Whether that has something to do with leaving Roxas alone for a bit, or calling him instantly, is none of your business."

I had to admit, Kairi was pretty admirable when it came to defending Naminé. She didn't really need the protection in the last few years, since she kept herself out of harm's way, but whenever she really needed it, her big sister was there to help her. I thought of my own brothers and wished they'd done the same for me, when they were still in school. They thought it would be better to toughen me up by leaving me in this harsh environment. I was pretty sure they wouldn't accept me for who I was.

Hayner glared at Kairi before getting up to leave. Olette followed him, turning back to mutter 'whore' at Kairi. The redhead narrowed her eyes. They darted to her ice tea, and Riku had no doubt she was thinking of throwing it at Olette for slandering her little sister. Just as they were leaving Naminé returned, this time a light flush on her cheeks as she smiled warmly.

"Did you fix it?" Kairi asked her.

She only nodded happily in response.

"Did you actually sleep with him?" Riku asked Naminé.

She covered her face with her hands in embarrassment. "My love life is already the talk of the school. What about you, Sora?"

I tried to keep his face calm as Sora burst out into happy giggles, "Alright. I can't hold it in any longer. I'm in love."

My heart sunk. In love? With who?

"Who's the lucky guy?" Kairi demanded.

"Ventus!"

_Shit._

"I mean, I've always really liked Ventus, but after we talked in the jacuzzi last night, he seemed like a totally different person to the one I had in my head. He's sweet, and compassionate, not to mention he's amazingly handsome."

Ventus. Ventus was Roxas' twin. It was easy to tell the both of them apart though.

"Did you know that Ven is studying to be a vet now? He's so adorable."

I'd never really had anything against Ventus, until now.

"You two would make such a cute couple," Kairi fawned, but when I looked at her she was staring at him with a look that said 'DO SOMETHING'. Having Naminé as a wingman _and_ a supposed girlfriend was actually pretty difficult a situation.

I couldn't even control myself, "You know that Ventus is Vanitas' best friend, right?" I couldn't believe how snarky that sounded. I didn't like the way it tasted on my tongue. It felt foreign. I hated drama, at least when it concerned me, and in this case, I guess it did.

"So?" Sora said. "It's not like Vanitas has any more-than-platonic interest in Ven."

"He might get jealous that you're trying to take his best friend away from him." Why did I keep arguing? Sora was an idiot, but if I was this obvious he might start to catch on.

"Pshaw," the brunet replied, waving the thought away. "Vani wouldn't harm me."

"Sora," I reasoned, "he's pushed two freshmen into the fountain today."

"He won't harm me, _that _badly… if I bake the Mars bar cookies that he likes. Besides, people don't actually feel bitter towards that. I didn't yell at you or Kairi when you became a couple."

Kairi laughed stupidly, "Are you kidding? You harped on about being the 'third wheel' for the next two weeks."

"But I got over it eventually right? Vanitas will too."

"May I remind you that Vanitas is your _cousin._ If you and Ven break up, then he's going to have to chose between the both of you," Kairi said.

"And he'll choose Ven, because you're an annoyance," I sighed.

"Hey! Why are you so against me dating Ven?" Sora demanded, pulling those stupid puppy dog eyes on me. I glared back at him until he couldn't take it anymore.

"Fine. Do whatever you want."

My tolerance was at zero percent.

"Yay!" Sora said, bouncing out of his chair. "I'm going to go and annoy them now. Wish me luck."

No.

I ate angrily for the next thirty seconds, only realising that I was squished between both girls at the last second.

"How bitchy of you, Riku," Kairi said, trapping me on the left while Naminé squeezed into the right.

"Ven is Vanitas' best friend?" Naminé repeated, "Is that the best you could do?"

"Shut up, slut," I replied bitterly, both girls just laughed.

Kairi tugged at Riku's bangs, recently trimmed, "Gosh, Ri, you're turning green."

"It's alright to admit that you're in love with Sora," Naminé said gently. "But now that he's admitted he likes Ven, your window of opportunity is closing."

I looked down at my trail mix. All of the M&M's were gone. I didn't mind, because I'd never really liked sweets.

If Sora started dating Ven, he'd have no one to eat the chocolate for him anymore.

* * *

_Ugh… I'm so pathetic._

_"Witch?!"_

_"Hello, Roxas."_

_"God, I'm sorry if you got freaked out by the messages. I was just… I didn't hurt you, did I?"_

_"Oh nah, it's totally fine."_

_"I did hurt you?!"_

_"No, Roxas. I'm fine you… were the best I've ever had."_

_"…Oh… thank you."_

_"I just called to say that I'm sorry, for not answering your calls. I- I don't normally do things like that. You might have realised it while we were talking, but I don't get out much. I'm not that sociable."_

_"Don't you go to school?"_

_"I'm not the person you think about, when it comes to school. Anyway, I want you to know that I'm not the kind of person that will love you and leave you. Well, I don't want to be, anyway."_

_"Will you- will you see me again? I, I can give you your sketchbook, and we can grab lunch or something?"_

_"Or you can watch me prepare my next mural? If you'd like."_

_"I'd love that."_

_"Great. It's a date."_

* * *

**{bgm}** Marina & The Diamonds - _Bubblegum Bitch_

The school day was finishing and I was at my locker, choosing which text books to bring home when Olette came up to her own.

At the beginning of the year, the lockers were assigned alphabetically, but early riser students took the chance to grab the locker they wanted, moving close to their friends and away from their enemies. My surname was D'Blanc, in the 'D' section, so it was pretty close to Roxas', whose last name was Evans. I skipped over Kairi's locker and a few other names to stick my student sticker right next to Roxas'. Unfortunately, Olette had the same idea, paying off the boy that was on Roxas' other side in order to be right next to him. She didn't have to deal with Ventus because Ven had moved his locker next to Vanitas' in the 'S' section for de Sola.

"Oh my god," Olette said, opening her locker followed by two groupies, one named Shiki, and another called Selphie. "I have been swamped with work already. We've got a history test tomorrow. Maybe I should give up and buy the answers off Fuu."

Fuu was a rather shady character, a part of Seifer's so called 'Disciplinary Committee'. I thought it was a load of crock. All of them were rather crooked. The history test wasn't going to be that hard anyway, it was just a revision of what we learned last year. One hour study. Two tops.

"Hi, Roxas!" I found it completely horrifying how Olette could change her tone from 'pissed-off queen bitch' to 'loving, flirty girl' in three seconds. But I guessed I was being kind of hypocritical there.

"Hey Olette," he said dismissively before turning to me. I've got to admit, that felt pretty good, especially seeing that deliciously envious face of Olette's. It brought out the green in her eyes.

"Hey, Naminé, I didn't see you at the party last night."

I laughed nervously, shrugging, "Ah, sorry Roxas. The party thing isn't my scene.", especially seeing that deliciously envious face of Olette's. It brought out the green in her eyes.

I guess it wasn't a complete lie.

"You should have been there, Witch came!"

"Did she really?" I replied softly, because Olette was giving me the stink eye over Roxas' shoulder and it was freaking me out. "What was she like?"

"It was hard to tell, she was kind of avoiding answering anything about herself. She likes peppermint schnapps though," he said, staring into his locker as he grabbed his things. He was lost in a memory, I could tell. He was staring into his thoughts with such fondness that I had to blush. He probably saw something more artistic than I did in his memories.

"I heard the both of you hooked up," Olette said. Roxas closed his locker and smiled at her, but his cheeks were turning red. It was adorable.

"I shouldn't kiss and tell," he replied. "I've got a meeting with her later tonight. Have a good one, ladies."

I was about to make my way home when Olette slammed her hand right next to my head. She and her followers trapped me. "Y-yes?"

"What are you to Roxas?" she demanded.

"Wha-? We're friends."

"Well _back_ _off_ because he's mine. I've gone over this with you too many times, Naminé. Don't make me repeat myself. You wouldn't like me when I'm angry."

"Did you just steal a line off The Incredible Hulk?"

Olette stared at me in shock before she banged her hand against the lockers again, strutting off.

I smirked.

Pissing off Olette left me happy and satisfied. How was I not supposed to feel good? I'd surpassed all of her girly flirting in one night with the help of a slutty outfit, and a mysterious persona.

It was a lot of work, but it was all worth it to see his smile.

* * *

**{Naminé BGM}** Neon Hitch - _Midnight Sun_

I was already halfway finished with my next artistic piece when Roxas rocked up, sporting black skinny jeans, a muscle tee, and another olive jacket, something that looked quite fetching on him. I pretended I didn't notice he was there, even though his combat boots roughing up the gravel made it quite obvious.

He thought that I might not hear him, since my earphones were in, listening to the same sensual song over and over again. He tapped my shoulder and I twirled around, bumping into his chest by accident (cough, cough). I couldn't help how I smiled around him, welcoming him with my eyes. Before I could stop myself, I went on my tip-toes to kiss his lips, pressing them softly and gently so he got the affectionate message.

I hope I didn't have to make it clearer.

Even though he seemed surprised by the forward greeting at first, he wrapped his arms around my waist and deepened the kiss, pleasurable thrills greeting the heat of his skin. When we separated he pressed his forehead to mine, and I had the pleasure of staring right into his eyes, a beautiful sapphire blue flecked with darker shades of cobalt.

"Hi," I said simply.

"Hey."

After we pulled apart I gestured to the artwork asking, "What do you think?"

"It's amazing," he answered, walking up to it and tracing the edge of one smooth. I could tell that he was being sincere. "It reminds me of some of your older work."

"You've inspired me," I replied, walking over to my bag. "This is an experiment, of course, I'm trying to see what kind of paint looks best on the wall."

"What?" he exclaimed, smiling, "This can't be an experiment, it's too gorgeous."

My heart fluttered as I saw him next to the painting, and I was suddenly hit with more inspiration. "Roxas, stay where you are." I pulled my iPhone out of my bag, bringing up my camera lense and attaching it to the thin device.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm taking a picture."

"Your iPhone isn't going to do much since my back is to the sun."

"Au contraire." I took the picture and motioned for him to look at it. He said 'oh' quietly when he realised my camera lense allowed for a more detailed image, despite the crappy iPhone quality.

"What are you going to use it for?"

"You'll see," I answered, as I dropped it into my bag and continued painting on the wall.

The following three hours we spent talking about various artists that we both liked, taking moments to switch between both of our music playlists, complimenting each other on amazing taste and asking each other about musicians we didn't recognise. I took a break from painting to sit opposite him on the concrete. I started stretching, because I was mostly in the same position when I was painting so I had to work my muscles out.

"C'mon, tell me more about you," I asked.

"What is there to tell? If you keep on asking me, then I'm going to run out of information."

"What's your favourite subject?"

"Music."

I rolled my eyes, quitting stretching to join him for an afternoon snack; Redskin candy and Coke slurpees from the 7-Eleven around the corner. I dug out my cigarettes and was about to light one up when I saw him stare at me weirdly.

"What's wrong? Do you want one?"

He thought about it a moment before he shook his head, "Nah. I've got my own."

I shrugged, cigarette between my fingers as I got up to continue the artwork, "I mean apart from music."

"History."

"Why?"

"What's not to like about history?" he replied. "Humans are _so_ fucked up. Better to learn about the fucked up ways of our ancestors so we don't have to repeat everything."

I shrugged, puffing a little before bringing about the outline for another letter.

"What?"

"I… I think you're right, Rox. I really do. I think that history helps us to stop the mistakes of the past from repeating but… well, you know kind of how I think. I believe that in the great disaster that will wipe out any trace of our existence, the next race is doomed to repeat our mistakes."

"You think?"

"Yeah," I nodded, spraying a clean line to encase my tag. "We might not be 'humans' necessarily, in the next thousand megaannum, but the next civilisation is going to have to deal with basic instinct, and morals, and the facts that we do- and then we start again. Humans might be the last mega species to roam the earth, but I wish I could say our tragedies our out of the next civilisation's reach, they might be, but then again, they might not."

"That's super depressing, Witch."

I smiled. "You're such a sweetheart. But you are right. With history comes compassion," I narrowed my eyes, lips stretching, "something I realise you're rather fond of. That's a nice trait to have."

"Hey, you!"

I dumped my paints in my bag, regardless of colour splashing in my bag, scooping it up, dropping the cigarette and grabbing Roxas' hand. I recognised the sound of authority when I heard them. He stumbled a little but he eventually got the point, trailing after me as we jet-setted through the park. We weaved through the trees but we weren't losing the cops, so I ran to the bridge over the stream.

"Witch, _no._"

"Don't be a pussy."

We waded into the water and hid underneath a bridge, but the whole time we were trying to suppress our giggles. After several minutes of staying quiet, I poked my head out and stepped back onto the grass.

"Is he gone?" Roxas asked cautiously.

I ran at Roxas and he caught me in the middle of the thin stream, swinging me around like a rag doll. Wet up to the knees and we were both laughing so hard. I was about to kiss him when I heard the sound of a camera clicking. Roxas dropped me and I looked around. I saw two girls from the lower grades at our school, Garnet and Penelo, running away laughing over a phone.

"Did those two girls-?" he asked.

"What?" I said, watching them run off. "Don't worry. I don't think they knew we were running from the police."

He looked down at his jeans, "Oh god, my jeans are soaking."

"C'mon, we've got to take our boots off, it's only a short walk to the beach."

"I have a better idea."

Instead of leading me to the beach, Roxas took me over to the abandoned lighthouse. Near that was a small patch of forest that eventually led to the ocean. Near an ocean cliff there was a tree house hidden among the trees. The rope ladder was only available to people that could actually climb trees. I volunteered, unwrapping the rope ladder from the bough.

The tree house was basically the size of a big bathroom, I think. There was a _balcony._ Like, how fucking cool was that? The balcony overlooked a large tree bough with a swing attached to it. The rope swing was at the very end of the cliff, so when you swung forward and let go, you'd drop a storey into the water.

The inside of the tree house was _amazing_. it was all built around the trunk of the tree. The spiral staircase on the trunk led up to a small nook where the bed ley underneath a pane of glass overlooking the forest and into the sky. The bottom floor had a small bench sticking out a wall with a clear cabinet behind it, which was stocked with cookies and alcohol from what she could see. There was a small TV in the other corner surrounded by beanbags, and a few more reclining chairs.

"Roxas, this place is beautiful."

"It's my brother, Cloud's. He's over in the Midgar War, but he made sure Mom transferred the old lighthouse land to him, so he could take care of it. My grandfather built it with my dad."

"It's amazing."

I was so busy marvelling I almost didn't notice when his hands slid about my hips. He pressed his lips to my neck and I pushed him into the staircase leading up to the bed, pulling up his shirt as he tore apart my bra. As to what happened after that, I'll leave it up to your imaginations.

"Our nails are made of keratin you know."

"I didn't, Rox."

"Fingernails made out of the same bestial components as claws. But animals, they are moved to survive; they will adapt to become what they need to be. Humans… we can't be swayed quite so easily."

"Yeah?"

"I think the best part of being a human is making your own decisions."

"That's… really admirable."

"I have something to give you."

"Roxas, I barely know you."

"And whose fault is that? Listen, I just brought you something that…I thought you might like, it seems totally your style after all."

"Roxas, this necklace- it's beautiful, but I-"

"No buts. It's yours. It's my choice, but I hope you'll accept it."

**tbc.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Follow Me Down**

[Chapter Five]

* * *

**{Vanitas BGM} **The xx - _Together_

There was nothing but warmth. Nothing in the world existed but the two warm bodies on either side of me, breasts and soft curves pressing into my sides, keeping me lovingly surrounded in sleep. A niggling voice in the back of my head told me to get up, but I ignored it in favour of burying deeper into the warm abyss.

Until The Devil himself ripped the doona off me, and introduced me to the unbearable whirlwind that was my bedroom.

"VEN, YOU MOTHERFUCKER."

There were muffled girly screams. I felt disoriented. I tried to blink my vision clear. Ventus was standing in front of the bed decked out in the school uniform, and the ladies next to me started pulling on their undergarments. I scrunched up my face and groaned, rubbing my eyes with the heels of my hands.

_What?_ I demanded snarkily, with my expression alone. Ven was- in truth- amazingly dense, but he'd spent so much time around me that I guessed he could understand what I was trying to say, when I didn't say a thing, and that was pretty cool, sometimes.

"Get up."

"Yes, _Mom,_" I moaned, catching the pair of boxer shorts Ventus pegged, roughly pulling them on. I rolled off the bed as the unnamed women let themselves out, giving death glares to Ventus as they click-clacked away in their heels. I watched their curvaceous bodies swing from side to side appreciatively. Then I turned to Vanitas, glaring daggers at him for ruining a perfectly good morning.

"Have you _still_ not cleaned it since the party?" Ventus was picking through a pile of clothes which had been permanently glued to the cheese of some buried pizza. "This place stinks."

"Does it?"

I sniffed, unable to smell anything through my blocked nose. I started shivering. Ventus raised an eyebrow at me before moving to close the balcony door. Oh yeah. That explained a lot.

"Seriously Vanitas, it's _February_. Don't you have a maid?"

I shrugged, moving to pick up the blanket and wrap it around myself. It was too fucking cold.

"I thought The Destiny Isles were meant to be sunny all the time. Why the fuck is it so cold?"

"You've been here for a year. You can't pull this tourist crap on me. Besides, it's not cold, Vani," Ventus assured me.

The blond placed a neatly folded shirt and pants into my lap and I started reluctantly getting dressed. While I was busy trying to button up his shirt, fingers tripping over themselves sleepily, Ventus went about the room and tried to clear out things that didn't belong (ie. condom wrappers, stale pizza, silly string).

"Xigbar has a set amount of money he sends over for… frivolous shit. I blew most of it on the party that _Sora _planned, so I won't be able to spend money on a maid for at least a month… maybe," I said.

"Go wash your face," Ventus demanded.

As I was dragging himself to the bathroom I was hit with a disgusting odour that penetrated even my out-of-order nose.

"Ugh, gross! What the fuck is that?"

"I don't even want to know."

I was still half asleep by the time I dragged myself out of the bathroom, collapsing on top of the blond as he dragged the both of us downstairs. Ventus picked up my already-packed backpack, no doubt filled while I was still sleeping. Ven was such a sweetheart.

"Why is the kitchen so far?"

"Because you live in a mansion," Ven replied simply, as if he was addressing a two-year-old, which I will gallantly admit that I was acting like at the current time. I wasn't ready to grow up quite yet. "But we're not going to your kitchen."

"Are we going to eat breakfast in the bathroom?"

"No. All of your bathrooms are disgusting, and your kitchen's in even worse shape. We're going to my house for breakfast."

Right before we left the front door, Ventus picked up the mail, separating the junk from the actual letters. The blond opened one as I brought out my motorcycle from the garage. Ventus' house wasn't that far away but it took some time to get to the academy, so it was better to take some kind of vehicle there if you didn't want to catch the bus.

"Vanitas?"

"Yeah?"

"You've got a letter from your cousin Tifa."

"Tifa? What does she want?"

If memory served me well enough, Tifa lived in Radiant Garden but she _should_ be heading to Midgar at the moment to welcome home some troops. I didn't really care that much, but Ventus' brother was one of the soldiers so I kept updated.

"She says she's been trying to contact you by phone for a while, but it keeps on going to voice mail?"

I didn't like answering the phone for fear of telemarketers and their annoyingly pushy ways. Don't tell me you don't feel the same. Anyone that I normally talked to knew my mobile number.

"She says she's going to drop off her adopted daughter Marlene, for you to take care of," Ventus had to suppress his giggles while my eyes widened in shock. This wasn't a laughing matter. It wasn't like Tifa to throw this kind of responsibility at him. And to deal with a _toddler._

"Are you serious?"

"Apparently," Ventus said, reading the content of the letter again. "It's hard to believe though, because you can barely take care of yourself."

"Exactly!" I exclaimed, outraged. I grabbed the letter and read it over, but Ven spoke the truth. "She's not even giving me the option. She's dropping her off in a week's time."

"How old is she?"

"I don't know," Vanitas stated angrily, Marlene had just learned to walk the last time I saw her. I shuddered. I _hated_ children. "Better than that, I don't care."

I couldn't say no to Tifa though.

"I can understand why she doesn't want to take Marlene to Midgar. The fighting might have stopped, but it's definitely not safe yet. How long does she expect you to take care of her?"

"I don't know, it doesn't say."

"Whatever. We'll cross that bridge when we come to it."

While we were walked up the steps to Ventus' house, a subtle feeling of security and warmth enveloped me. I realised that I felt more at home at someone else' house than in my own luxurious mansion.

That was pretty sad.

"Is your stepdad home?"

"Possibly."

"I hope he's not," I said as Ven opened the door, "this place is a lot better when that prick's not here." I'd intentionally raised my voice more towards the end of the sentence because I wanted Prince to hear.

As expected, he probably had because when he passed Ventus and I on the way out the door he said, "Who are you speaking about there, lad?"

"Oh no one," I replied, smiling charmingly, "just a real asshole."

Ventus rolled his eyes and pushed me playfully while Prince raised an eyebrow and stepped out the door. I was on autopilot to the kitchen now, sitting on the chair next to Ventus which was closest to the window. This was my spot.

There was a new person sitting at the table today, a nerd with thick-framed glasses and a ratty mushroom-styled haircut. Personally, it looked like a wig.

"Who are you?"

The girl's eyes widened and she looked down, muttering something under her breath. I made a distasteful face. I didn't exactly hate shy people, but I found them incredibly irritating.

"That's Naminé," Claudia, Roxas and Ventus' mother, supplied, slipping eggs onto Naminé's plate.

"She's Roxas' new BFF," Ventus supplied.

"She's also my Society & Culture partner," Roxas said after swallowing a bit of omelette. "We're doing most of it in the morning because Naminé says your brain is more stimulated then."

"…lo," Naminé said quietly, but I barely heard her over the noise. Ventus went to help his mother in the kitchen while Claudia kindly slid bacon and eggs onto my plate.

I was about to start eating when Ventus tugged at my fringe roughly. I twisted in my chair to Claudia saying, "Thank you, Claudia," before finally digging in. Ventus was more of a mother to me than a best friend, but the boy valued manners more than his own limbs.

I waited until cooking was finished and Ventus was seated to ask Roxas, "Is hanging out with another girl a good idea, since you and Witch are something now?"

"'Witch'?" Claudia asked curiously.

Roxas froze and Ventus started giggling. I took out my phone as Claudia took a seat at the table. It was really hard to deny Claudia anything. She was a wonderful, cool mother that took a healthy interest in her children when their bastard of a stepfather wasn't around.

"That's a strange name for a young girl, or 'boy'?" she asked, tilted her head to the side.

"No, it's a girl, Mom."

"I'm sorry, dear. Ever since Cloud came out of the closet I have to be conscientious of my babies preferences," she replied smiling, placing her head in her hands. "Who's this Witch? Why would their parents name her that?"

"It's not her real name," Ventus supplied. "She just goes by that so she won't get caught."

I watched curiously as Naminé dropped her fork. Her body had become stiff all of a sudden. I narrowed his eyes at her and met her own. I noticed that there were flecks of blue breaking through her brown eyes. Why would she need to wear contacts?

Personally I hated contacts.

"Oh, get caught for what?"

"She's a graffiti artist."

"That's rather exciting," Claudia smiled sweetly before regaining her composure. "Roxas, I'd be careful around a girl like her. You know you shouldn't give your name to someone who wouldn't give you theirs. I would know."

She would. That's how her first son, Cloud, was born. One night stand.

"I'm trying to weasel it out of her," Roxas said. "I mean… she's not shy but she's… she's-"

"I'd ditch her," I supplied, surprising Roxas. "I know she's hot and stuff, but unreliable people are the worst."

"You would know," Ventus laughed, followed by the rest of the table.

"That's right," I said seriously, directing with the bacon on my fork, "I'm speaking from the perspective of an unreliable person. She will break your heart."

"Stop being dramatic," Roxas said dismissively.

"Is she pretty? Do you have a picture?" I offered her my phone, opened up to a picture of Witch at the party. "Oh my goodness. She is quite the looker. Well, even if it doesn't work out Roxas, I'd love to meet her. You should bring her for dinner one day." Claudia, even though she was a very up-to-date Mom, didn't know that 'hooking up' also extended to sex, which is why she wasn't so completely concerned with Roxas' relations to someone like Witch. Naminé's head sunk even lower, catching Claudia's attention, "It's alright Naminé, you can come too."

"No, no," the brunette practically whispered. I saw the panic in her eyes, and suddenly it made sense. It was a long shot, but I'd had always been a better judge of character than the Strife-Evans.

As we were piling out of the house, we all waved goodbye to Claudia and started heading our separate ways. As Roxas stepped into his car and Ventus started making his way to my motorbike, I said 'Witch' and Naminé froze. I trailed past her, discreetly muttering, "Stop being so obvious."

"Nami, you okay?" Roxas asked.

The girl responded by turning around to look at me with wide pleading eyes. She spoke, but this time I heard her loud and clear, in a voice she hadn't used with either of the Evans boys, or their mother. "A secret for a secret?"

She stepped into Roxas' car, zipping up her lips.

"Did you say something to Naminé?" Ventus asked. I shook my head. I had no plans to reveal Witch's identity. I was actually looking forward to seeing how this turned out. Real life drama was always more interesting than books or movies anyway.

And I was interested to see what 'secret' was so clear Naminé could see it, but I could not.

* * *

**{Naminé BGM} **deadmau5 - _I Can't Behave Myself featuring. Neon Hitch_

I held the necklace Roxas had given Witch in my hands, twisting the thin silver chain in between my fingers gingerly. The design was intricate and beautiful, a discoloured snowflake for key teeth, wings for handles, a thalassa charm hanging from the end. He called it Oathkeeper, and had a matching one named Oblivion.

This was bad.

What started out as purely a sexual relationship was starting to become an emotional one. Roxas was in love with Witch, but she wasn't who I am. I needed to make it apparent that Witch was emotionally unavailable and accepting Roxas' gift had just made the entire situation worse.

And now I had to deal with the fact that Vanitas knew who I was. I thought I'd been hiding myself rather well but apparently he was craftier than The Evans brothers combined.

I was sitting on the bleachers of the oval at the moment. Sitting here because no one was around, and no one would bother to look for me here. It had been raining, so the ground was soaking wet and muddy. I really should have been heading home to study.

I looked up at the sky forlornly as if it could offer me some kind of clarity, but all it offered was a rain drop that landed right in my eyes. "Ow." Irritated, I brought out my contacts case and pulled the brown ones out. Today was not my day.

Just when I thought that it couldn't get any worse, walking right towards me was Olette, vicious scowl in place as she zeroed in on her target. I stood up, placing Roxas' necklace into my pocket and zipping it up.

"You!"

"Me?" I said jokingly, fingers splayed across my chest as if innocently asking 'Do you mean me? Naminé? School nerd?'

"Who gave you the right to partner up with Roxas for Society?"

I inched my head back, aghast. How was I meant to reply to that?

"I don't know how you got the impression that I was hunting him down, because he asked _me_ if I wanted to be his partner."

"Are you serious?" Was that a rhetorical question? "And look at you, finally speaking like a person instead of a mouse."

Was my normal tone really that soft? Well, I guess a bit of Witch crept into me whenever I didn't have to keep up my normal façade, ie. in front of self-centred losers like Olette.

"I don't know what to say to you, Olette."

"How about that you'll swap partners with me?"

"What?" I said, shaking my head. "Dude, you're partner is Vaan, and he never does his work until the last second."

"And don't I know it." She groaned, eyes rolling skyward. "Now swap with me. Tell Roxas you'd rather work on The Jungle Man project with Vaan than… whatever you're doing right now."

"No!" I growled. I was going to stand my ground, and I wasn't going to allow Olette to push me down anymore. She had to learn that not everything in life could be gained through intimidation and bullying.

"Haven't you heard?" Olette said, lowering her eyes and fishing out her phone. "Roxas has got a girlfriend, and Witch is way out of your league."

Olette showed me the picture that Penelo and Garnet had taken. It was a picture of Roxas and Witch, in the middle of a stream laughing together. They looked like the perfect couple.

Was it possible to be jealous of yourself?

I had to stop myself from laughing.

Oh, the irony.

"I'm not going to let Witch stop me from being Roxas' friend."

Olette scoffed, "Girls and boys can't be friends. One of them always falls for the other. But in this case, I guess this is all someone like you could hope for, with your terrible hair and… brown eyes… Hey, didn't you have brown eyes before?"

The brunette advanced on me carefully, like a jaguar on it's prey. I stepped back carefully, hot and cold flushes warning me that this was a less-than-ideal situation. Vanitas had found out this morning, I just couldn't afford for Olette to know who I was too.

I turned away from Olette and started walking away.

"Hey! Come back here, D'Blanc!"

Luckily she couldn't keep up with me, wearing heels like those, and I broke out into a run to escape her.

* * *

**{Sora BMG} **Britney Spears vs Miley Cyrus - _Oops… We Can't Stop Again_

It was a normal night at Club Spades. Roxas' band, Dusk, was playing, meaning one thing for me in particular, and that was hanging out with Ventus while they played!

I was so excited. The last time I'd tried to talk to the nicer Evans twin, I'd almost choked on my own foolishness. I couldn't help the way I was around Ventus. He was just so gorgeous, and kind and that _smile_. It made my heart flutter just thinking about it.

Unfortunately, I hadn't exactly gained the courage to speak to the blond yet. I was hanging back, sipping on beers with Riku because I was trying to work up the guts to speak to Ventus, who was lounging on the sofa in the VIP room eating a packet of chips. It sent tingles up my spine to be near to him today.

"Riku, I don't know what to speak to Ventus about."

The silveret didn't seem all that interested in helping me. He looked rather bored. After all, he only came to support his girlfriend in the band. "How about the fact that you're a giant loser and get nervous when you talk to him?"

"Ri!"

I swore that sometimes Riku was just the most unhelpful person in the world. And mean too. Where oh where did he get his sassy attitude from? It was like he had been going through male PMS since school started.

"What?" Riku shrugged, "If you're honest maybe he'll respond to you better."

It might have worked in someone else's mind, but definitely not mine. I was _onto_ Riku. The older boy liked to plant thoughts in my mind that weren't all together honest, and sometimes- _only _sometimes- I ended up looking like a fool for acting stupidly, misled by Riku's silver tongue.

"No!" I growled, blushing red, "I've got to play it _cool._" I started bobbing my head to the music, making a gesture like I was trying to lay something flat.

"Sora, do you even know what kind of guy Ventus likes?"

"I've got _one_ reference," I gestured grandly, pointing my finger in Riku's face. The silveret rolled his eyes and pushed it away. "And that's Terra, his best friend from when they were kids. Roxas said that he was love struck over the guy."

"What was Terra like?"

"He was _cool_ as a cucumber. Stoic. Chill." With every adjective I stuck a pose, crossing my hands over my chest like I was one of those try-hard 'gangstas'.

Riku dragged a hand down his face, "You're an embarrassment."

"And _you're _never going to get laid with that attitude."

"I don't _want_ to get laid," he said between gritted teeth.

I grinned and started alternatively poking Riku's chest with both fingers, "It's alright Ri, you don't need to hide your filthy urges from me. You rabid sex-monkey."

"Get away from me."

"It's okay," I grinned stupidly, winking quite obviously, "Bros before hoes Riku. I won't tell Kairi about your secret fetishes."

"I don't have fetishes."

"Sure you don't," I winked again, for extra emphasis, poking my elbow into Riku's ribs. I reached up and tugged Riku's hair, and the older boy hit the back of my head, blushing stupidly. "See!" I exclaimed. "You liar. You like it when people pull your hair."

I liked to make Riku blush. It was in my 'little brother' DNA to make Riku and Kairi uncomfortable and embarrassed. It was better with Riku because not a lot made him embarrassed, and Kairi liked to get violent when she was embarrassed, so that was never fun.

"If you don't run over to Ven and confess you're undying love, I'm going to tell Kairi that you called her a hoe."

Dibber dobber!

"No!" I said, latching myself onto Riku like a limpet. "I don't want Kairi to hit me again! Riku, she punches like a dude. Last time she hit me in the face I lost a tooth! Please, don't! Please, please, please."

"Get off me," Riku growled, trying to push me off.

"But Riku, you don't understand," I said, getting off him and pulling a one-eighty in mood once again. "Ventus is so kind, and handsome, and amazing. I'm nothing in comparison. I'm goofy, and I have no style whatsoever. I'm just kind of pathetic."

I looked up to see that Riku was looking away from me, into the slit of the stage where the band was performing. "Well, if that's what you think, then it must be true."

"What?"

"You're goofy. You have no style whatsoever. You're kind of pathetic."

I definitely wasn't expecting that.

"Wow. Harsh, Ri."

"I'm just repeating what you were saying." He replied coldly. "You're so emotional Sora. You get your head wrapped around something, you're going to start believing it. You believe it, it might come true. You believe what you want to believe, but self pity will get you nowhere."

"Wow. That is _deep._"

Riku rolled his eyes, making a 'shoo' motion. "Just go. Stop being such a coward."

I pouted for a second before I made a show of pulling up my pants and wiping my nose with a finger. "You're right! I'm going to do this!"

"Yes."

"I'm gonna go talk to the man of my dreams right now!"

"Go then."

"This very instant."

"Good for you."

"I'm gonna do it!"

"For fuck's sake, Sora."

"Right after I finish this drink!"

Riku rolled his eyes and pushed me forward, so that the awkward move caught Ventus' attention. I blushed beet red when the blond smiled, beckoning me forward.

I turned around and said, "Riku, we need a secret code message just in case things are getting too awkward."

"Okay," the older boy sighed, humouring me, "what's the code word? It has to be something you can fit into normal conversation."

"'Coco Pops.'"

"What? Sora, no."

"Okay, what about 'Fibonacci?'"

"Sora, do you even know what this is?"

"No, but I'm pretty sure it's a kind of Italian noodle. Okay, wish me luck!"

Riku groaned, but I barely heard him, making my way over to the object of my desire. I sat down next to Ventus, smiling widely.

"Hey, Sora, how are you?"

"Chipper."

"The band sounds really great tonight, don't they?" Ventus smiled, motioning towards the slit of stage that they could see. The both of us had a good view of Vanitas who was playing and singing aggressively during the chorus. I hated to admit it, but he looked really sexy. I hoped that didn't sound weird coming from a cousin, but Vanitas hadn't been around long enough for me to see him in a cousinly kind of way.

"They do sound really good. I mean, I'm no expert. It sucks to be the tone deaf one in the group but I like all kinds of music; The Who, The Beatles, The Limousines- I'm a big fan of all things 'The'- oh my god, am I rambling?"

"Yeah," Ventus laughed, smiling gently, "but that's okay. I'm not the best conversationalist either."

"Are you kidding? You're super sociable. It's why you have so many friends."

"You reckon?" he asked, about to put the crisps away when he remembered his manners. "Do you want some?"

I nodded my head, shoving my hand in the bag when I realised my hand was incredibly sweaty. It was an awkward amount of time when I started panicking, and it was over the _dumbest_ thing. I couldn't believe I was about to have a panic attack over how long it was taking me to pull out some chips. My hand jerked out and I accidentally spilled the contents of the packet onto the floor.

"Oh my god, I'm so sorry."

Ventus and I got off the couch at the same time, moving to pick up the chips before they were told off for making a mess. We bumped heads and fell back immediately, rubbing our sore craniums. Smooth Sora, smooth.

"Ah, you're probably getting sick of me repeating the same word over and over.

"It's okay Sora. It was just something Vanitas got from the vending machine." Our hands met as we were picking up the chips and I flushed red, meeting Ventus' eyes shyly.

We stood up and were about to speak when Riku stepped between us. "Did I hear Fibonacci?"

Dammit Riku! I was just making progress with Ventus, why did you have to come in and ruin it?!

"Fibonacci?" Ventus inquired.

"Oh yes," I said, placing a hand on Riku's shoulder. "Riku is a huge fan of spaghetti."

"Sora…" Riku started.

"Anyway, no. We didn't say Fibonacci, Ri."

"Oh," he said awkwardly, making an even more awkward exit.

"Is Riku alright?" Ventus asked.

"Well, you know Riku, he's completely capable."

"That is one way to describe him. How is his relationship with Kairi going?"

"You know what?" I said, completely forgetting that I was trying to be alluring. I'm pretty sure I was failing _pretty hard_ anyway. "Even though they say they're dating, they just seem like really close friends to me."

"Well," Ventus admitted happily, "I think some of the best relationships evolve from friendships."

"Yeah, you're right."

I smiled warmly at him, and Ventus caught the warmth in my expression because his face turned from surprise to embarrassment, pinking up immediately.

"Brownies!"

Turdnuggets! Another interruption!

Naminé and Kairi burst into the VIP room with a tray of brownies between them, holding them out as if there were more than two people in the room, like the pretty ladies presenting prizes in game shows.

I wasn't allowed to watch game shows. Vanitas said I got too excitable yelling at the television, but that carried across all kinds of TV shows.

"Ah, no thanks, I'm full."

"Ladies, there are _no brownie needs_ here," I said, trying to keep the edge out of my voice. Why were my friends so adamant on interrupting my time with Ventus?

Ventus laughed softly, eyes bright and beautiful as he covered his mouth with his hands, "You're funny, Sora."

"Do you think so?" I asked, a little disappointed. "You don't think I could pull off a 'stoic and cool' persona, do you?"

"Maybe?" Ventus said, tilting his head to the side, "If you put your mind to it."

I groaned, "For the love of Fibonacci."

Riku popped his head in the doorway.

"You called?"

* * *

**{Naminé BGM} **Skunk Anasie - _Search and Destroy_

"I am actually so glad to be done with this project. I mean, female soldiers in China has been fun, but I'm really getting rid of seeing Hun faces everywhere."

"They're a bit frightening, aren't they?" I laughed, trying to keep my voice down.

I felt like I was in the middle of a warzone.

Today was Valentine's Day. Ironic, no? Here I was, supposed to be feeling the love and acceptance of my peers, but instead I felt like there was a huge target on my back. Someone, somewhere had a rifle aimed at the back of my head.

Or maybe I had been playing a little too much Assassin's Creed. I mean could you blame me? Edward just makes me melt. Pirates vs Ninjas? Puh-lease. Pirates FTW.

I do spend a lot of time fantasising about Roxas, but not right now, surrounded by a boundless amount of followers. Well, maybe not infinite, but there were a fair number of them staring at me like they would gladly pull at my hair. I couldn't have that.

The both of us were nestled at one of the picnic tables. I had all of my stuff in a big pile, but Roxas had strategically placed his stuff so that it looked like there was no room for someone else.

"Don't worry, Roxas. Once this page is finished, we'll be one hundred percent done." I said, as I hit those last few keystrokes.

This was one of our last big assignments before half yearly exams. I was glad to be finished with it. As awesome as being paired with Roxas was, I have had the song 'Reflection' stuck in my head for far too long, and it would be nice to be rid of it. Oh, and the constant glaring was becoming a bit much too.

"Done!"

"Awesome!" he reached up to give me a double high-five (ie. a high five with both hands, for those socially inept like me). "We should celebrate, all of my assignments are done. What about you?"

"I've just got to finish my art assignment this afternoon. The picture is finished, I just have to triple-check it and then sign my name off."

"Well, it's Friday. Why don't I come over and we play a few hours of Assassin's Creed?"

I couldn't help my smile doubling in size when he suggested that. My world was filled with sunshine and I could forget that I was currently being murdered in the mind of several Roxas stalkers. And it was perfect timing too, because my stepmother was being called away from her work and she wouldn't have let Roxas stay over even if we promised she could supervise us the entire time.

"Absolutely!"

"Hey, come with me to my locker so you can tell me where you're at. You were pretty excited the last time you mentioned where you are in the story."

I wasn't an idiot. Roxas was a big boy. He didn't need me to come with him to his locker.

"You're just using me so that these girls don't swoop in on you once you're alone."

"Would you hate me if I told you that is _exactly_ the case?"

Well… Roxas told Sora that he was sleeping over, which prompted Sora (who, technically, was the only boy allowed in our apartment) to come over too. That was all right. Sora was over all the time anyway. He wasn't exactly imposing (or rude… he was actually really helpful, really cheerful and amazing) but to our still-kind-of-homophobic stepmother he made her uncomfortable, which made him uncomfortable in turn even if he didn't show it. Plans for hanging out eventually became a sleepover.

"Sora and I are just going to grab our stuff, and then we'll meet you at your house, okay?"

I told Kairi that I was just going to walk home because I forgot some stuff in the art room I needed to pick up. It was only three thirty, so how empty the school felt surprised me. When I walked into the art room, I felt a chilling presence, which spiked violently when I stepped outside and there were _five_ girls, some of which were glaring at me profusely during lunch period.

I panicked, my inner huntress instincts muddled up because- let's face it; I'm not a huntress, I've just been watching RWBY episodes again. Three girls, one from our grade named Amber, flagged Selphie and Olette and two I didn't recognise from a lower year.

"Naminé, didn't I warn you about being too close to Roxas? Most of these nice girls didn't get to give their Valentines to him because he was stuck to _you_ all day."

"And you still think that's _my_ fault?"

"It _is_ your fault!" one of the lowerclassmen screeched.

Oh man, what was I going to do? These girls actually believed they had some kind of staked claim on him, which was stupid because he was _mine._

"So what are you going to do to me?" I asked tentatively.

"Well, we don't know why Roxas likes you in the first place," Selphie said, "so I guess we're going to have to make you even less desirable than you are now."

And just when I thought things couldn't get more fucked up, Olette produced a pair of scissors she had been hiding behind her back.

Jesus fucking Christ, you have to be kidding me.

I moved like zombies were after me, you have no idea how fast I ran. They must have been weirded out by the fact that I could run so fast, because I'm a self-proclaimed nerd you see. Nerds are meant to be out of shape, you know? I completely jet-set around The Science Block and ran down the slope leading to The Quadrangle, hoping I could find somewhere to hide there. At the girl's toilets I was almost cornered by Selphie, but when I ran around the building hoping to go out the back way between The Music and Art block Olette was waiting for me.

I was so scared because she was waiting right around the corner. She grabbed me, my glasses fell off, and I bit my lip so hard. I had to remember not to scream like a bitch because she was like a fucking Boomer. For anyone that doesn't know what that is, a Boomer is a type of zombie in the popular game Left 4 Dead, which vomits all the time and attracts other zombies.

I had like, three self-defence classes in eighth grade, which is what I fell back on immediately so I wouldn't get those god damned scissors anywhere near me. But before I could knee her in the gut she grabbed a fistful of my hair, as well as the tie used for my blonde hair, and _yanked. It. Off._

Olette, the stupid bitch, stared at the hair in her hands and immediately threw it away, into the fucking _mud_. Me, being the stupid idiot that I am, immediately thought 'Dammit, I only have _one_ of those'. Because quality wigs are expensive, okay? I've never seen a nice one under thirty-five dollars, and I am but a poor student with no job. Jokes, I'm just an imbecile.

She looked at the wig, and then at me, and then at the wig again, and then something weird happened. I saw in her eyes, something changed.

Something inside her _broke_.

The fire in her eyes extinguished and she pointed at me with a look of complete _horror._

"Y-you're Witch."

I don't even know why, but I felt as if my real hair had fallen off when she ripped the wig free. I patted my head and tugged on my messy blonde hair, bringing it to the front of my face as if I didn't know what colour it was.

I had to think about what Olette was seeing right now. I don't understand how she could make the connection so fast.

So I was a nerd. I could have been a blond-haired, brown-eyed nerd if I put my mind to it.

It was only later I realised that she instantly linked me to Witch because I was close with Roxas, she had seen me without my contacts in, and now she was seeing the blonde hair to match.

Who better for Witch to hide out as, then some nerd?

I darted in the mud for my disgusting, soiled wig, uncaring as it splattered all over my uniform because I was _mortified_. I stared at Olette for the longest time until I heard Selphie yell out. I snapped to attention, running away as fast as I could. Olette did not chase me.

"_Miss?"_

"_Olette, come into my office. You said you had something to tell me?"_

"_It's about Witch. I… I know who she is."_

**tbc.**


	6. Chapter 6

**Follow Me Down**

[Chapter Six]

* * *

**{Naminé BGM}** The Limousines - _Very Busy People_

I jangled the keys into the lock viciously, irritated that my stupid wig was sopping wet. I'd been trying to figure out what I was going to say and do if Olette happened to contact Roxas somehow with the declaration that I was Witch.

I stomped through the living room and the kitchen to find Kairi, Sora, and Roxas hanging out in our shared bedroom.

"Hey Nami," Sora and Kairi said in sync. They were on the bed watching something on Kairi's laptop. Roxas was sitting in one of the beanbags on the floor fiddling with his phone.

He turned to me and the smile which spread across his face made my heart flutter. For a moment I wondered if telling him that I was Witch would be a good thing.

No more secrets.

But then again, wouldn't he be mad that I lied to him all this time? I was already in too deep. If he found out that I was Witch now, he'd never trust me again, and I couldn't deal with that. Witch always seemed like a temporary thing, but how difficult would it be to keep my wild, expressive side a secret forever?

Roxas took one look at me and started chuckling quietly, "Why is your hair wet?"

My answer came out a little too quickly, "I got splashed by a car on my way here."

"Wow, rude," he replied, turning back to his phone to shut it off. "Hurry up and change so we can play."

"You can turn it on," I said, walking over to our closet. It was a good thing that we had a walk in closet so that I could close the door behind me. Now, Roxas had seen me outside of uniform a grand total of _one_ time, and that was the first time he met me. I was wearing granny clothing then. This was the chance to show him that Naminé could dress sexily as well.

I found it absolutely ridiculous that I could wear scanty items in from of Roxas as Witch, and feel like the most beautiful, enchanting creature ever. But when I was dressed slutilly as _Naminé_ I felt rather stupid. Well, I felt it was rather stupid to feel out of place in my _own_ apartment so I was just going to do whatever the hell I wanted.

I changed my nude bra for a cute frilly black bandeau, and slipped on a grey tank top with a cool spine cut out in the back. I swapped my skirt for a pair of short black, white tribal-printed shorts. I looked at myself in the mirror before stepping out. Seating myself next to Roxas, I revelled in the movement I saw out of the corner of my eye, how Roxas was subtlely trying to check me out. That definitely helped with the ego.

"Don't read James Kidd's bio on the internet," I said, watching with glee as I saw Roxas' expression turn to me with horror.

_"Why?"_ It was a little known fact that James Kidd was Roxas' favourite character in Assassin's Creed IV. "Is he really a guy? Not that it would really matter if he was a guy or not."

"Of course James Kidd is a woman," I stated sassily, borderline 'Witch' tone. Roxas looked at me in confusion, as if he had heard something he was sure couldn't be real. You don't need extensive knowledge of pirates in the eighteenth century to know that." I said, softening my voice. I didn't need to give away my identity _that_ easily. "Have you _listened_ to his voice?"

"Gaaayy!" Sora exclaimed from Kairi's bed.

I laughed at the sheer irony of it.

"Shut up, Sora," Roxas replied, pressing his hand to Naminé's, his silent request to hand over the controller. "You're the one fawning over another dude."

"At least my dude's real."

"Gotcha there, Roxas," Kairi laughed.

Roxas was a lot better at stealth missions than I was. I got bored and got caught. I was a lot better at parkour and the battle system, as well as sailing. It was a good idea he took over when he did, otherwise I would have caused desynchronisation.

"You're here to meet James Kidd, right?"

I scratched my head, making sure my wig was still in the right position. "Why are the Assassins the bad guys?"

"Edward was a Templar for a few sequences, remember?"

"So was Haytham! He was still helping the Assassins."

"That's because he wanted some Kanien'kehá:ka ass."

"How the heck can you remember how to pronounce that?"

"I _like_ Assassin's Creed III. I might be the only one in the entire universe that does, but I did. I thought Connor and Haytham were hot, okay?" Roxas said, silently taking out another Assassin.

I looked back at Sora and Kairi who were crowded around her laptop watching something with earphones in.

"So… how are things going with Witch?"

Roxas didn't answer for a few seconds, and I thought that he wasn't going to answer but just when I was about to distil the awkwardness with another question he said, "Naminé, you're a girl, right?"

"Well, I'm no James Kidd, but…"

Roxas smiled, making sure not to look away from the television as he said, "I don't think Witch and I are going to work out."

"Oh, why not?"

"You don't understand her Naminé."

Oh really?

"She's… I'm always on edge with her. I feel like I can't be myself with her. But… there's something about her that makes me want to keep coming back. She's just so…"

"Rox, have you had any prior experience? You've never mentioned anyone before Witch."

"I have," he defended, staring right at the screen, "And I mean… Well, I had this brief 'experiment' with Axel which I'm glad didn't get in the way of our friendship because…" he trailed off, smiling down at the controller before moving on, "_Before_ I had the crush on Olette, I used to rely on- well, I guess you couldn't even call it a romantic relationship because I only communicated to her through email."

"Yeah?"

"Mhmm. She was the first one I-"

"-wrote a song for."

"Right," he nodded enthusiastically. "Fauxame was my oasis. In a world that was always trying to change who I was, she was my sanctuary."

"What happened to her?"

"It was my fault actually. I just- I got so caught up with Dusk that I forgot to reply to some of her emails, and she was the kind of person that would wait until she got a reply, she never bugged me to remind me to reply to her emails. Eventually, our chats got so infrequent that we hadn't talked in months. When I tried to get back into contact with her, I found out that she deleted her email. I was so distraught."

"So Witch."

"Oh yes. So… I guess I really don't have any relationship experience, well, none that can help me in this situation anyway. Witch is… she seems very put together, but at the same time… When we're together, I get the feeling that this isn't the first time Witch has been intimate with someone before."

I raised my eyebrow. He caught my expression and replied defensively. "I don't mean to say that she's a slut or anything! What I mean is… she- she always seems to know what she's doing. She hardly stutters, she thinks things up intelligently, and communicates so effectively. She reacts smoothly, and… Yeah, she always seems to be in control, if that makes any sense. And she's so passionate. I really adore that about her."

I looked down at my hands, a thousand thoughts vying to be said aloud. But there was only one question I knew I would regret asking that had to be said.

"Are you in love with her?"

Roxas didn't even flinch, "I… I think I might be."

I didn't know whether to feel elated or cry.

"But… I don't think she likes me that way."

My answer was too defensive, too suspicious. "How do you know that?"

"I don't know," he shrugged. He didn't look away from the screen, didn't want to meet eyes that would definitely know too much. "I know this is terrible to assume, but I don't think she's the kind of girl who can be herself with me. Is that bad?"

I relaxed into my bean bag and sighed wondering how easy it would be to tell Roxas that _I_ was Witch, so he wouldn't have to feel that he would be discarded every again.

"I really don't know."

* * *

**{Naminé BGM} **Vance Joy - _Riptide_

Something that I noticed over time was that Roxas reacted differently to me than he did with Witch. He was always nervous around Witch for some reason, as if he couldn't act suave and cool around me the way he tried around my alter ego. I hated the difference.

Take his personality around Witch. She'd greet him with a big smile and a kiss, and he'd return it, his movements _careful_, shy, and his eyes would smoulder in the way it never did around me. Whenever he spoke to Witch, he was soft-spoken, delicate, and revealing as little about himself as possible. He was fully convinced that if Witch knew everything about him, then she would drop him once she got bored of him, as if she really was one of those sadistic bitches that played with people for fun. I hated how guarded he was around her just because she was pretty and mysterious.

When Roxas was hanging around with me he let himself go. He produced word vomit, but he didn't care how Naminé perceived him because he knew she would accept him no matter how stupidly he acted. It was hurtful to admit, but I'm pretty sure Roxas saw Naminé as someone who was grateful for every friend she had, so wouldn't mind if he acted a little asshole-ish because I _should_ be thankful for every friend I had. I am a nerd. I'm a loser. Roxas saw me as such and didn't vie for my attentions because he knew I was so thankful to be friends with popular, hot Roxas Evans, that I wouldn't dare betray him.

I know that was a selfish and rather rude way to see it, but that's how I thought.

Roxas really _laughed_ when he was around me. He was so careful around Witch, he had to make sure he behaved a certain way to keep the façade up. The thing is, Roxas treated me like a boy, like a best friend. I was friend-zoned.

* * *

_"Sherippedmywigoff. Kairi, I don't know what I'm supposed to do."_

_"Calm your farm, Naminé. What happened?"_

_"She ripped. off. my. wig."_

_"Who?"_

_"Who else? The she-Devil herself; Olette."_

_"Where is your wig now?"_

_"I have it, but it's really muddy. What am I meant to do?"_

_"Where are you?"_

_"I'm walking home."_

_"Listen Naminé, go to the park and clean it off at one of the public fountains. I- Wait a moment. I've got another call. Just chill. We'll get through this."_

* * *

_"Oh my god. Hi, Olette."_

_"So I just found out that Naminé is actually Witch."_

_"You're joking."_

_"You can quit with the act, Kairi. Don't treat me like an idiot."_

_"So, what are you going to do about it?"_

_"Kairi, why didn't you tell me? I thought that we were friends."_

_"It wasn't my secret to tell. Are you going to tell Roxas?"_

_"Are you kidding? What good would that do me? Roxas would be thrilled to know that his best friend is actually someone like Witch. It's a boy's dream come true."_

_"Olette, are you going to be okay?"_

_"Y-yeah. I think so. I've just… Kairi; I used to be Naminé's _best _friend. Do you remember in grade school when we used to play Hide & Seek? All together? We were inseparable."_

_"I kind of wondered… you know, if any of the old Olette still remained."_

_"It's kind of weird to admit, but Naminé made me see how completely consumed I was by someone I stopped crushing on a little while ago. I guess."_

_"Are you going to thank her?"_

_"I've too much pride to do something like that. Thanks for listening, Kairi."_

_"No problem."_

_"Hey… I need someone to talk to about this, someone who isn't so preoccupied with bumping above me in the social ladder. Can we meet for coffee tomorrow?"_

_"Umm… Sure. Why not?"_

_"Okay. Goodbye, Kairi."_

* * *

**{Vanitas BGM} **Swedish House Mafia - _Don't You Worry Child_

"Tifa, you know I'm not qualified to do this right?"

"You're the only one I can leave her with Vanitas. It's only for a few months," Tifa said, ruffling my hair as she'd done when I was still a kid. I growled lowly, but didn't move to push her away. I was pretty sure she could leave Marlene with any number of her friends, but there was a specific reason she had decided to leave her with me. A terrible idea really. "Drop her off at the nearest preschool during school hours. I'll make sure to pay you for this."

"You know perfectly well I don't need the money."

"I do."

Marlene was crying as we waved Tifa off, sniffling into her toy chocobo. I had absolutely no idea how to make it stop. As Tifa disappeared into her terminal, Marlene's sobs started to become louder. I looked around and panicked as people started giving us weird looks.

"Hey," I said, kneeling down to her height. "Tifa's going to be back, don't worry. I mean, it's gonna be a hella long time but-" Marlene started openly sobbing and I tried my best to shush her. "Um, do you want ice cream? I hear kids like that stuff."

Marlene stopped crying and nodded her head, wiping away more tears. She probably begged Tifa to let her come to Midgar too, but it was way too dangerous for children. There was a Ben & Jerry's close to the food court. I bought a pint of cookie dough that Marlene silently ate as she followed me through the airport and back to the parking lot.

She was completely silent on the car ride back to Vanitas' mansion. When we entered I watched her immediately cover her nose, making a disgusted noise.

"Gross," she said.

Fuck me.

* * *

_"Vanitas, why are you calling so early?"_

_"It won't stop complaining."_

_"Is Marlene there already? Van, you don't call little girls 'it'."_

_"I don't know what to feed it, or how to clean it, and she keeps on complaining that it smells-"_

_"Your house _does_ stink. It's really terrible."_

"_Well, she's not really complaining, but she's imploring and- Is it? Is it really that bad?"_

_"You're sick Vanitas. You can't even smell because- You know what? It's Saturday right?"_

_"I think so?"_

_"I'm coming over. I'll clean for you."_

_"Are you fucking kidding? This place is huge. It's going to take at least a month. Tops."_

_"You'll help me."_

_"I shan't."_

_"You will. You're just going to stay sick if you keep living in a place that dirty."_

_"Ugh fine. But I'm going to pay you for this."_

_"Don't you mean 'You're going to pay for this'?"_

_"What? No."_

_"As long as you don't make me wear a frilly dress."_

_"Aw, dammit."_

* * *

**{Naminé BGM}** The White Stripes - _Icky Thump_

Even though their Society & Culture project was finished, Roxas invited me to eat with his family once again. Even though I was completely stoked he wanted to hang out with me so much, carrying the burden of being his girlfriend _and_ best friend was starting to take the toll on me. When he slept over at my apartment, I'd almost kissed him awake. I did manage to sneak in one innocent kiss before he was fully awake. I'd covered it up by smashing him with a My Little Pony pillow.

Something I noticed when Roxas opened the door to his house was that the _smile_ he used to greet me with was the same one he used for Witch. It might have been because he woke up a few minutes ago, but his eyes were smouldering. I raised an eyebrow at him and looked down at myself. I was still wearing the long-sleeved, long-skirted version of my school uniform. There was no reason for his sexy radar to be twitching at all. When I looked up again, Roxas' eyes were more alert and he was beckoning me inside.

"Hello, Naminé," Claudia and Ventus greeted me at the same time. I was kind of shocked to see that sitting in Vanitas' chair was actually Prince, Ventus and Roxas' stepdad. He was reading the newspaper with a plate of toast in front of him.

When he heard me walk in he immediately frowned. "Who's this?"

"Hello, my name is Naminé."

Prince merely frowned harder and turned to the twin's mother, "Honey, isn't it enough that you feed that ill-tempered Vanitas kid when he drops by? We don't have enough money to feed kids that aren't yours."

I immediately felt ten times as uncomfortable.

"Prince," Claudia said, trying to pass the comment off as a joke. "Don't be rude. Naminé, please sit down. I hope you like French toast."

"I do."

"Claudia," Prince said, his tone scolding.

"Maybe we would have enough money," Roxas replied snippily, "if you didn't sneak into Mom's wallet to buy alcohol."

Prince's nostrils flared, eyes narrowing at him.

"Roxas, honey," Claudia said, "not while our guest is here."

I pulled out my wallet and rifled through, "You never told me you were so financially insecure," I replied, pulling out four fifty dollar notes and trying to give it to Roxas.

"No," he refused.

"Are you sure?" I turned around in my chair, trying to give it to Claudia, but she refused as well.

"Naminé, I'm sure you worked quite a while to save that money. Please."

"I didn't. Take it. That's most of this month's allowance."

Claudia thought about it, but refused. I didn't want to give it to Prince, because as Roxas has made it so clear, he would probably spend it on alcohol.

"Isn't it a little dangerous for a little lady like you to be carrying so much money?" Prince asked me. I frowned and shivered. I didn't like the way he was looking at me. Like a lecherous creep.

"I am quite capable of taking care of myself," I replied.

Prince laughed, as if he couldn't believe I was telling him the truth. I should have taken my mace and sprayed it in his face, but that wouldn't be appropriate for the breakfast table.

"You said that's your allowance? What do your parent's do for a living?"

"None of your business," I snapped.

Prince looked like he was about to spit out his coffee.

I knew I was being rude, you don't have to tell me twice. But this man had contaminated a warm place of comfort and belonging. He was looking at me like an object, no doubt because he knew I came from a heritage that could provide me with incredible wealth. I didn't care about that. I just wanted to have breakfast with the company of people I loved.

Roxas and Ventus were equally as surprised. I guess they hadn't been expecting that answer either.

"Please, don't be rude," the hypocrite said. "I just want to know a little more about the people Roxas calls friends." The _gall _of this fucking asshole. "How are you doing in school, Naminé?"

"Naminé's super smart. A-Levels," Ventus said. I don't understand why he gave up the information, but there was something about the way his eyes were the size of saucers which taunted the thought 'is he scared?' in front of my face. He looked scared.

"What college would you like to go to?"

I stared him down, hard. It wasn't something I was going to tell my friends, let alone Dickbreath McRichard-Face here.

"Let her eat," Roxas said to Prince protectively.

"Are you two dating?" he demanded.

Roxas shook his head.

"Roxas already has a girlfriend," Claudia said.

"Oh, what's her name?"

"Witch," she answered submissively.

Prince choked on his coffee, slamming it down. "Do you mean the urban legend? The vandal who keeps on graffiting the city?"

"Maybe," Roxas said, turning away from him.

"Don't think I don't know about her. I work at the police department, if you hadn't forgotten." Roxas had told me that Prince was a kind of secretary. "Her case comes up repeatedly in repeated crimes. She is a bad influence, and I forbid you from seeing her."

"You can't _forbid_ me from doing anything," Roxas snarled.

"I am your father, and I-"

"That's the thing, you're _not!_" Roxas said angrily, slamming his fork down on the table. "You don't even _act_ like a father except in times when it's most suitable for you." He stood up, and grabbed my hand. "I hate to be cliché, but you don't know me, and you don't know Witch. She's beautiful, intelligent, and kind. And I'm not going to stop seeing her because your superiors say she's a bad person."

I grabbed my bag quickly as Roxas started striding out the door.

"I know what's best for you, young man, and-"

Roxas yelled down the hallway, "You can just PISS OFF, you fucking poser."

"Roxas, come back here!"

He slammed the door, and we started trotting down the pathway, walking down the pavement. Roxas was muttering obscenities. I was staring blankly ahead of me, but my mind was a whirl. My heart was hammering and I was on the edge of crying. I needed to tell him. I was going to tell me.

_I'm Witch._

_I'm Witch! Roxas, can't you tell between us?!_

_I'm Witch…_

_I'M WITCH._

"Roxas… I-"

Just fucking say it!

"I… I don't think you could say anything to comfort me right now, Naminé. Could I just have some time to think?"

"S-sure."

"I'm really, really sorry that you had to witness that. I'll make sure that he leaves before inviting you over again, okay?"

"Okay."

I hate my life.

* * *

**{Naminé BGM} **Zedd - _Clarity featuring. Foxes_

Roxas and I didn't get the chance to speak to each other the entire day. It was a bad day, no doubt cursed by how disastrous the morning became. I got two tests back, and I was getting D-worthy percentages. I had to step it up. It was only March. Even though I knew I couldn't let my grade's slip, I thought about what that would accomplish. Maybe… maybe I should force myself to go to college. Maybe my parents were right. I should grin and bear it, and maybe I would need that college degree to do something with my life. Ugh! I hated this. I felt so bad I felt like crying. I'd heard of multiple people that hated going to college. They said it made them miserable, that the courses they took didn't interest them.

I was so afraid of that. I was afraid of hating my life, more than I already do.

Anyway, I couldn't believe I made that about me again.

I was worried about Roxas. He got a lot of shit from Russell. I knew that. He not only shit on who Roxas decided to date, but he was forcing him into university to become a lawyer. Roxas wanted to be a musician, and he had the talent to do it too. He worked hard. On top of studies, he tried to write music everyday. Even if it was shit, he still produced, or added to a song every day, even of it was about how good his nachos were at lunch. He got gigs for his band, and promoted on Tumblr, Facebook, Twitter, and other websites constantly. Roxas also worked part time at the local cinema on Monday, Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, full time during the holidays.

I found him sitting at the front gate, on the wall that separated the library from the front office. He was looking at his phone. I managed to sneak up behind him to see what he was looking at. When I was Witch, I told Roxas I didn't like taking pictures. I was afraid that if he stared too long at them, that he might tell the difference between the both of us. The image he was looking at was one of the few pictures I had allowed. We'd taken a selfie together in front of the art I'd created on our first date. He was staring at the picture with a fondness that made me sick, so I tapped him on the shoulder.

"Ah, Naminé, there you are." He locked the phone. "I need to talk to you."

"Oh no, you're not breaking up with me, are you?"

He raised his eyebrows before chuckling, reaching forward to ruffle my hair. Oh my god. I couldn't believe that I actually said that. Something was definitely wrong with me. I really needed to separate Witch and Naminé or another disastrous thing might happen. Speaking of disastrous things…

Olette passed us, and I was hoping she would just keep walking, but she stopped. She wasn't her usual self though. She looked like she was in mourning. "Hi, Roxas."

"Hi, Olette," he replied. I kept my head down, perhaps able to come off as shy instead of internally exploding.

"Congratulations, on you and Witch."

Roxas looked pained for a second, but after a second he managed to pull together a smile in return. "Thanks, Ollie."

After she left Roxas got up and I started following him on the way home. I realised that we weren't going to either of our houses, but to the park. We threw down our bags and lay side by side in the sunken swing, the breeze gently swaying us back and forth. We each faced the sky and didn't anything for a long time.

"Naminé, what do you do if you're in a relationship… that's not really a relationship?"

"Define this… not-relationship."

"Sex."

"Oh," I said, trying to sound surprised. I'd probably failed.

"But I want more than that. I want to get to know this girl, but she won't allow me."

We'd literally spoken about this on Valentine's Day.

"Roxas, you might have to accept the fact that this girl might not be interested in something worthwhile."

"But…" he faltered. I tried to fight back the tears. It wasn't like me to say something this harsh. I felt the outline of the Oathkeeper necklace press against my breastbone, underneath a thin layer of clothing, the necklace that Roxas had given Witch, as a promise ring. He sounded so heartbroken.

"I know girls that are like that; heartbreakers. It would be better if he found someone else. I wouldn't want to see you get hurt."

"Naminé," he laughed humourlessly, "you're normally the one cheering me on. How come you would say something like that?"

"Because… Witch is- I… I don't think she's good for you."

"You're right," he admitted in defeat. "I mean, she's never really there for me when I really need her. Not like you are."

We didn't touch, but I felt his heat searing into my side. It was making my head dizzy.

"I just want someone who's going to take care of you."

"You don't think Witch will?"

I scoffed, "I don't mean to say she isn't beautiful, or intelligent, or smart. But, if she isn't willing to give you her real name, then what else isn't she going to give? Her secrets, her identity, her heart? You can't be sure. She sounds, unpredictable."

I felt like I was digging myself an incredibly deep hole.

"She is."

I sighed, "What's you're type Roxas?"

"I… I guess; passionate. I love girls who love life."

…

_I like you Roxas, and I think I'm falling in love with you, but love doesn't exist and I'm so confused. You make it worse, with your handsome smile, and your kind words, and you're wounded soul._

If I told you I was Witch, would you still accept me as I am?

"I can love life," I muttered, so quiet that I thought Roxas hadn't heard me.

"When you're not wearing a permanent frown, yeah," he replied. I blushed, but I wasn't sure if it was because he heard me, or the summer heat.

"I can love life… now that you're in it."

* * *

_"Ugh… Hi, Kairi. I'm not sure if you already know this, because you aren't answering your phone, but Naminé is- mad at me, I think? I'm not sure. She said some pretty cute stuff, but then she realised she'd said it out loud and ran away. T-to be honest I'm not sure what she feels right now._

_"But I'm not calling because… or maybe I am- I don't know anymore._

_"I need someone to…_

_"I'm falling in love with Naminé._

_"I sound like a greedy asshole, but I am. She's beautiful. And when I'm not with Witch, she's all I can think about; the shape of her hands, or how her jewellery smells like coffee, or the blue flecks in her eyes, and how she's level-headed, and always supportive._

_"I'm sorry. This sounds weird because I'm talking about you're sister. You girls are so different._

_"Oh my god, I should have told this to you. Can't keep your mouth shut._

_"Just. Tell her I'm sorry for whatever I did to offend her, but more importantly, if she wants me to forget what she said, I'll try. But at the moment I'm really happy that she said it._

_"I shouldn't though, because I'm dating Witch… who I can't get a hold off. As usual._

_"Don't you dare tell Naminé. Forget I ever said this. I'm sleep deprived and regretting everything in life right now. Especially forgetting the point of this message. I'm just making a bad situation worse."_

**tbc.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Follow Me Down**

[Chapter Seven]

* * *

**{Vanitas BGM}** Ellie Goulding - _Salt Skin_

Ventus had set the goal that was too extreme in my opinion. But then again, I don't think he was ever going to get this stupid mansion clean. I still didn't have the money to hire help, so this was going to take some time. Ventus' goal was to clean three rooms a day after school, and however many they could manage on the weekend, moving from one end of the mansion to the other. Today was Saturday, so they needed to haul ass.

Today was Day 1, and the first thing I needed to do was introduce Marlene to Ventus and establish a sense of familiarity between them. Ventus, ever the people pleaser, was prepared. When Marlene and I came to the door he had a plastic flower crown and a lollipop on a comically long stick for her. Show off.

"Hi, Marlene," he said, grinning that beautiful, sincere smile of his.

"Hello."

She wasn't much of a talker. The last thing she'd said to me was 'Where's the bathroom?'. She accepted whatever I fed her (pizza and other assorted fast food), and amused herself with a colouring book she had brought in her luggage. I was not looking forward to having to clean her though. She did have this way of silently imploring and complaining with her eyes that I did not like. Quite possibly because it reminded me of me.

Ugh, I don't need to get into thoughts like that.

"I've got a present for you." She accepted the gifts with a smile I hadn't seen before.

Over the course of the day, Marlene followed Ventus around like a puppy. When I walked into the room they were cleaning, I was a little pissed to note that Marlene was speaking with Ventus freely, and acting like a normal kid.

The both of us (Marlene and I) waited in the newly cleaned kitchen, taking a break after cleaning eight rooms to sit down and eat a late lunch at two o'clock. I was staring Marlene down, who was looking at her lap nervously. I narrowed my eyes. Why wouldn't she speak to me the way she spoke to Ventus?

She looked up, noticed I was staring at her, and then looked down again.

"Mighty talkative, aren't you?"

Marlene looked up again, flushed and looked at Ventus. The blond, as if feeling some kind of psychic connection, turned around and smiled warmly at the girl.

"…your eyes… yellow…" she murmured.

"You need to speak up, Marlene," Ventus said gently.

"Why are your eyes yellow?" she said shyly, looking down at the table.

"It's a genetic anomaly," I replied, but judging by her expression I knew she didn't understand.

"Marlene," Ventus said, setting our lunch on the table. He'd prepared spaghetti using some tins he found in the cupboard. A lot of the food in the fridge had reached its expiry date. It was a horror to clean. "Vanitas' last name is Solari."

"Solari?"

"Mhmm. It means 'Sun'. Vanitas' eyes are filled with sun," he explained.

What a load of bull. I realised then that I didn't like lying to children, and elbowed Ventus' ribs. "Stop it."

Ventus smiled at me, "Vani, it's not going to hurt. And this way, she won't be scared of you anymore."

Vanitas raised an eyebrow and turned to Marlene, "Are you scared of me?"

Marlene pinked up at the question, looking down at her spaghetti. I twirled my fork as I thought about it. I'd never thought of myself as someone who looked particularly threatening. I knew the way I behaved sometimes put people off, but I didn't think I _acted_ in a way that my ambience alone said 'go away'. Now that I looked at Marlene like this; a cute looking girl being stuck in a room by a guy she was frightened off, I got why she started crying at the airport.

"I'm sorry," I said, and she raised her head to look at me. "I don't mean to be scary."

"Aww," Ventus gushed, and I sent him a death glare. "Hey, don't do that!"

I looked at Marlene and realised she was leaning back in her chair, frightened. She didn't understand that that was just how I was. The way I behaved, the way I pushed people away, these were a part of me. I couldn't stop it. As far as I was concerned, she would just have to deal. She was three, and easily impressionable. She'd get used to it.

"Hey," I said to her gently. Marlene's features softened. "After we're done cleaning for the day, we can go shopping, and get you some things you might need."

"Like what?" Ventus asked.

"Well, since you insist on not getting a maid, we can use the spare cash I have to make one of the guest rooms more kid-friendly," I said. Marlene smiled at the thought.

After we'd cleaned our ninth room it was four o'clock. The stores in Destiny Island on Saturday normally stayed open until nine o'clock, so they had plenty of time. Marlene picked a small guest room closest to mine and dropped her My Little Pony backpack on the bed.

When they were piling into the car, Ventus realised that Marlene was reluctant to go in.

"Vanitas, did Tifa give you a car seat?"

"What? No. The car already has seats."

Ventus sighed, "I meant a kid's car seat."

"Kids have separate car seats?"

"God, you are impossible."

At the store Ventus lead him around to home décor spots and the first thing they picked up was a pair of butterfly-printed sheets and pillow covers. I wasn't going to say that Tifa was poor, she definitely wasn't, but Marlene was definitely used to a modest household. My impression of children was that they would cry and scream to get what they wanted, but Marlene was different.

Even though she asked to go to the toy section, and she looked at dolls and stuffed toys, she would never openly said 'I want this.' Even though I said she could literally have whatever she wanted, she didn't ask for anything. But it wasn't until Ventus realised this that he actually prompted Marlene to ask for what she wanted.

"Are you sure it's okay for her to get something?"

"Ven, I have a lot of money to blow on nothing. If it's not spent on her, it's fast food and cigarettes."

"C'mon, give her a limit to work with."

I looked in his wallet. "Uh, three hundred dollars."

"Are you serious?! That's way too much, Vani. There are no bills to take care of, or something?"

"Xigbar handles the bills."

Ventus just shrugged. "Okay then. But don't make a habit of spoiling her."

"I won't. You know I hate spoiled kids," I smirked at him. Ventus rolled his eyes.

I was carting around the sheets and pillowcases, following Marlene around when I noticed that Ventus was missing.

"Fuck."

Marlene turned around with surprised wide eyes.

"Pretend I didn't say that," I ordered.

She stopped in front of the Monster High dolls and stared at them longingly. I looked over them and raised an eyebrow. "Well, these are definitely a step up from Barbie in my book. C'mon Marlene, pick out your favourite one."

"Really?" she asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, go ahead." She picked up a green-skinned doll and showed her to Vanitas. "Frankie Stein?"

"Yep. Daughter of Frankenstein's monster."

"Hey," I smiled at her, "you're pretty smart to know it's the monster and not the scientist." That was one of my pet peeves. I reached down to pet her hair, and she giggled cutely. I ignored the rising heat in my face and coughed to rid myself of this one-sided awkwardness.

"Which one do you like best?" she asked me.

"Um…" I couldn't believe I was actually considering this. I stared at the dolls for a moment, each regular model-shaped, glitter-dunked pretty girls, going through their titles (daughter of the vampire, daughter of the wolf) to choose one I liked when I came across a blue-skinned doll that looked aesthetically pleasing. "She's pretty cool."

"Lagoona," Marlene informed.

"I have a thing for blonds," I said without even realising it.

"Like Ventus?" she asked curiously.

I flushed and decided not to answer. I hated feeling vulnerable and embarrassed. I hated feeling, period.

We passed the skateboard section and Marlene stopped to adore a Monster High penny board.

"Do you want that one too?"

She turned around and shrugged, "Denzel says skateboards are for boys."

I frowned, "Well screw him." I got the board for her, and on second thought I got elbow pads, knee pads, and a helmet too. "I'll teach you."

Marlene clapped happily, "Thank you, Vani."

"Um… So, let's look for Ventus."

We found him in the electronics section.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"I'm looking for a night light."

"Aren't you a little old for one, Ven?" I teased, getting a giggle out of Marlene.

"Marlene mentioned that she's afraid of the dark, so I'm looking for one. But they don't seem to sell them here."

"Yes they do. They're on sale because they couldn't sell them out before Christmas."

"Fairy lights," Ventus told me.

"You're a fairy," I replied snippily.

Ventus merely smiled in agreement and ushered Marlene to the selections.

"Okay, I guess we can do that."

After picking out some neutral gold fairy lights we went to the cash register and I pulled out my card. The woman at the counter smiled merrily at me, her eyes trailing from me to Ventus.

"Vanitas, I just don't think it's safe for a four year old to have a skateboard."

"It's a quality skateboard. I checked."

"But still-"

"C'mon, she's got the safety gear I never had when I was teaching myself. It's practically bubble wrap."

"But she's _four._"

"Savings or credit?" she asked.

"Savings, thanks."

"Oh, how adorable. Is this your little sister?"

"No," I replied nonchalantly.

"Oh my is she your… daughter?"

I looked at her, shocked and then looked to Marlene, gripping tightly to the edge of his jacket, to Ventus who was chuckling quietly. I growled quietly.

"No!" I said too defensively. "She's my niece."

"So he's not your partner?" she said, gesturing to Ventus. I bit my lip, trying not to pout as the heat flooded my face again. I really hated feeling embarrassment.

"No, of course not."

"I'm sorry," she said, finishing the transaction. "You two speak like a married couple."

I dragged a hand down my face and snatched up the stuff I bought. Ventus and Marlene trotted next to me.

"Hear that Vani? When are you gonna hook me up with a ring?"

"Shut up, Ven."

* * *

**{Kairi BGM} **Kaile Goh - _Teenage Dream_

I met Olette at The Coffee Club at Destiny Plaza. I, for the most part, cared about what she wore to every occasion a full one hundred and ten percent. I was wearing one of Naminé's star-printed crop tops paired with some denim jeans. I had one leg draped over the other, my sneaker tapping along to the tune of Teenage Dream.

I was apprehensive, wholly, about meeting Olette, even if it was for a simple thing like coffee. How could you not? It seemed like she actually believed you had to be snarky and rude to reach the top of the social ladder. I knew these games. I'd been playing pretend all my life. When it reached night time I became someone with the makings of a person at the bottom of the food chain, someone like… Naminé. Except I knew how spectacular my sister really was.

I was drinking a mocha chiller when I saw Olette turn the corner. The brunet was wearing an off white sleeveless top with a collar and a black bow, as well as a frilly pink skirt and towering black high heels. My eyes travelled down from the curve of Olette's shoulder to the swell of her breasts, to the bow in her legs. Olette had been a tomboy, back when we'd all been friends of a sort, so you bet I was surprised when she changed into such a delicate flower, even more so when that was not the case either and now she had the makings of a queen bitch.

She smiled at me, nervous, forced, before getting into line to order a drink. My nails clacked against the wooden top. I wanted to grow them out, as well as my hair, but to quote Naminé, 'It wouldn't be practical.' I hated practicality. My emotions had a strong rein on me, but my head managed to reel me back in before I made a mistake most of the time. My safety net was, of course, Naminé, but she wasn't here right now. I was on my own. I was going into the battlefield.

Olette sat herself down with a tall cup of coffee in front of her. She drank it immediately, and I winced. It was obviously a hot beverage, judging by the steam coming out of it. Olette didn't even flinch. A Starbucks warrior, most likely.

I didn't start the conversation, I waited until Olette was good and ready to burn a hole into my forehead.

"Aren't you going to ask me how I know Naminé is Witch?"

"I'm pretty sure it's because you saw that she wears a wig all the time, but in retrospect that doesn't prove a thing, doesn't it?"

Olette tilted her head to the side, blinking beautiful bright green eyes. I would readily admit that I was jealous of Olette's body and beauty. To have green eyes, that seemed like a grand feature. I thought about insignificancies like that all the time. I could take the hidden depth in Olette's eyes and wonder, wonder, wonder, a trait that made a lot of things hard. My train of thoughts could stay alive for hours at a time.

"I just… I don't understand how she could hide her beauty from the world. Naminé takes _so_ much crap for being an ugly nerd. Why wear a disguise. Does she not realise how powerful she is as Witch?"

"I'm her sister, not her moderator. She can do whatever she wants."

_I wonder what colour they are. Are they moss green, or chartreuse?_

"Sorry," she said, pressing her fingertips to her chest. I could see she'd developed a lot in that area. I could still remember when we were younger and Olette was teased for being flat-chested, Naminé had too and now they were both more well endowed than herself. I didn't mind. Large chesticles came with drawbacks after all. "I didn't mean to- I'm just so interested in Naminé's story, but I highly doubt she'd be willing to talk to me at all."

"Well, you did make her life quite difficult in the last few years."

"And I want to apologise for that. I really do."

"Good."

There was quite the awkward silence after that.

"Do you think she'd forgive me?"

"Naminé's not a bad person or anything. I'm pretty sure once you tell her your side of the story she'll come around."

"Okay, enough with the serious talk, Kairi. I haven't spoken to you properly in forever. Tell me how you've been."

We spent the next few hours treating each other as the friends we hadn't been in ages. We shopped and complimented each other on our purchases. We gossiped about other people and asked each other how we were really doing on grades and life choices.

The both of us came out of City Beach laughing because we were remembering just how badly we fought about a colouring competition when we were kids.

"You definitely chose the right colours for that piece," Olette said.

"But you were the only kid in the class that could learn to colour in the lines back then."

"I guess we both have our strengths."

After we were happy and sufficiently depleted of cash, the both of us ate Chinese on the top floor.

"Hey, Vanitas is hosting a sleepover in a few weeks. You should come."

"Are you sure he'd let me?"

"Yeah, Vanitas is pretty chill. I'll tell him you're coming beforehand."

"Thanks Kairi," Olette smiled, twirling a strand around her finger, "I mean, it's been forever since I hung out with boys. You'd think vying for a spot on the popularity ladder meant that you deal with boys all the time, but the only guy I frequently talk to is Hayner."

I produced a forced smile. "Mind you, Sora, Riku, and Ven are off limits."

"Personally," Olette said, leaning across the table, "I don't think they'd be interested in what I have to offer."

I gasped, "How did you know that Riku was gay?"

"Well, I didn't know about gay," Olette said, "but I knew that he was interested in Sora."

"I thought you said homosexuality is a sin," I said darkly.

Olette bit her lip, "I'll admit I said that, but at the risk of sounding like a coward, that is something my father drilled into me. Logically, I don't see any reason why we can't just love anyone we want to."

"That's the spirit."

At the parking lot the both of us hugged, and I was enveloped in the scent of caramel spice, fresh paper, and something that was wholly Olette. My skin sparked with warmth, and my heart burned at the possibility of becoming her friend once more.

"I'll try to contact Naminé tomorrow and apologise for being a terrible person. Maybe I can make up with her too."

"Good night, Olette."

"Thanks, Kai. For everything. You are, no doubt, one of the best things that has happened to me in a long time."

* * *

**{Naminé BGM}** Ariana Grande & Nathan Sykes - _Almost Is Never Enough_

I was sitting on the swing at our favourite park waiting for Roxas to meet me. I was ready to tell him. I think. No I wasn't. I wasn't ready, but I was going to do it anyway because… well, I didn't want to define who I was with cowardice. I was going to step up and become the person I'd always wanted to be, bombshell façade aside.

I was having a hard time psyching myself up. It was like ripping off a band aid, like stripping off the wax in one foul moment of pain. It would be easy, if she tried to separate her emotions from her facial expressions, anyway. Piece of cake, right?

Roxas stepped around the corner, looking gorgeous as always. He looked hot, but figuratively and literally, with his school shirt open and exposing the slimming black tank top underneath it. Naminé was about to die in her long-sleeved uniform, and a heavy wool skirt swishing around her calves. The sunset was beautiful, at least. As he approached, she got off the edge of the swing, standing to address him, as if this was some kind of business meeting.

I fidgeted. Not only was I hot, but now that I was this nervous there were a billion things wrong with me. My bra strap was falling down, and it was the uncomfortable one too, the one with the wire digging into my chest. I was so hot and the sweat stuck to my skin like mildew, my oversized shirt doing nothing, _nothing_ but to insulate the grease pools of sweat. Speaking of grease, my hair hadn't been washed in three days. It was greasy and matted as hell. I hated it. I hated me. I felt sick. I was never going to get through this.

What I needed now was a cigarette, but I wasn't that sure about showing this 'edge' of my personality quite yet. Instead I crossed my arms over my chest, but in a way so I was gripping my elbows instead of looking cross. All of my body language was irritatingly delicate.

"Hey, Nami," he said, setting his bag down on the floor. He was using the tone he had when he had first met; dancing on thin ice filled with landmines. "What did you need to talk about?"

Band aid.

"Um…"

Rip. It. Off.

"I like you."

I could tell by his expression that he had immediately caught onto exactly what I meant by that. He scratched the back of his neck, lowering his hands and bringing them together into fists, trying to grasp what he was trying to say.

"I like you too, Nam."

I clasped my hands together, shaking my head. He got the message.

"Oh, um…"

Roxas looked away awkwardly, mostly at the floor. I could hear, practically see the words dragging across his tongue, only to be choked back at the last second. I hated to see him like this, but I needed a definitive 'no' to set my head straight. Everyone loved Witch better. I wanted that confirmation from the one person that mattered the most.

"Naminé, you're like my best friend. I need to…"

I covered my hands with my face, no doubt heating up from the embarrassment. "Just get over the clichés already. 'You see me as a little sister', 'You don't want to complicate our friendship'. Just choose one so I can start mending the heartbreak already!"

"Why are you confessing if you know I'm going to say 'no'?" he replied, irritated.

"You're going to say 'no'?" I gasped, placing my hands over my mouth.

"That's not what-" he sighed, "Naminé, I have a- a _lot_ going on, and I'm just not sure-"

I had to distil this completely awkward atmosphere, "Just admit you'd rather chose Witch, so I can start hating myself."

"Stop being masochistic," he said, placing a hand in his pocket. Once he got his posture right, he seemed to regain his calm as well. "I'd never want you to hate yourself. Stop comparing yourself to Witch."

"Because we're on completely different levels, right?"

"I guess, yeah- that is true."

I slumped, trying to stop my eyes from burning. "I knew it."

"Hey, Naminé, don't be like that. You're not Witch, but-" he placed his hand over his heart. He gripped something underneath his shirt, and I knew it was the Oblivion key. I don't know why he was doing that though, "… you _know_ me. You're reliable, you're honest, and I feel that I can be myself around you. I feel at ease when I'm with you. Witch is… something else, but that doesn't mean I could ever chose my friendship with you… over her."

"So… you'd chose _me, _over her?"

Roxas visibly paled, looking down at the floor. "I didn't mean that Naminé. Please stop putting so much pressure on me and let me speak."

My face pinched, but I shut my mouth, despite how irritated I felt. I needed to let Roxas speak his mind, even if he'd lost control of it, even if he was saying exactly what I'd thought he would.

"I've known that Witch is a temporary thing for a while. I can feel the apprehension she does whenever I ask her who she is. I'll make a deal with her. If telling me who she really is isn't an option, then I'll break up with her."

"And then what? You'll date me?"

"Well, I think we-" he said, motions looking extremely reasonable, but my blood was boiling.

"No." I said lowly, shaking my head. I spat this time, "I don't want to feel like _anyone's_ second choice. How can I _not_ hate myself over this?"

"I'm sorry!" Roxas yelled angrily. "I know that's what it sounds like-"

"That's _exactly_ what it sounds like."

"Naminé."

I muttered quietly, "You don't have enough love for the both of us."

Roxas' head snapped up, eyes wide. "What did you say?"

I raised an eyebrow. What seemed peculiar about that sentence?

"That tone… You sounded…."

"Roxas, you're a depressingly honest person," I replied before I remembered that was _exactly_ what Witch said on the night they met. Roxas' eyes just kept on getting wider. He was going to tell the difference!

"Na-"

"Roxas, I think we need to take a break from each other," I said, emotion returning to me in the form of burning at the back of my eyes. I was so embarrassed. The soggy heat and white cold flushes painted my neck and my lash line was a dam for tears.

Second choice. I couldn't believe it. If Witch doesn't say yes, _then_ you'll consider dating me? What the _fuck?_ How was I supposed to react to that?

"Nami. I'm sorry."

I stared him in the eyes as I shook my head. Somewhere in the fray my tears slipped between the blonde lashes and dripped down my cheeks in rivers of steaming heat. I hated everything about myself. I hated everything about Witch too.

I saved myself some dignity by turning around right then and heading home.

He didn't follow me.

I took an extra lap around my apartment building to dry my tears, but Kairi could tell what was wrong with me as soon as I opened the door.

"Naminé, are you alright?"

"I confessed to Roxas," I spat bitterly.

"And… what did he say?" she asked, eyes flicking to her purse briefly. She looked strange, even guilty for a bit. I shook my head. she'd probably gotten nail polish on one of my shorts or something.

"He said that if it didn't work out with Witch, he'd _think_ about it."

Her eyes widened, it was hard to tell through her thick corrective lenses. "Oh, wow. I wouldn't expect that of him."

"Just as I thought. My crush likes this persona better than me," I said miserably. Kairi was about to retort, but I stopped her. My fists were shaking. I stomped my foot, gripped my wig tightly and throwing it onto the floor.

"Naminé!" she said in alarm.

"I'm sick of hiding in Witch's shadow. From now on, I'm going to be the best _me_ I can be."

* * *

_"Principle Carter?"_

_"Yes, Olette?"_

_"I… I don't think that I can give you any more information on Witch. My leads… they've disappeared."_

_"Olette… do you know that in one of Witch's vandalisms, she depicted the school crest on a bloodied, torn student, sitting behind bars? Even if Witch is nothing more than a terrible artist, she's been sparking terrible publicity for our school in _every_ way. I need you to do this for me. I need you to find Witch for me. I can't have you changing sides."_

_"I don't want to change sides, Miss. I simply have no new information for you."_

_"Olette, you know the consequences for these kinds of actions, do you not? I don't think your father would tolerate expulsion, would he?"_

_"…But… Yes, Miss."_

* * *

**{Naminé BGM} **Flight Facilities - _Crave You_ _featuring. Giselle_

When I walked into school this crisp March morning obviously depressed because Roxas was not with me. I was getting a _lot_ of weird looks. Self conscious, I stepped into the bathroom and made sure there wasn't something sticking to the back of my shirt.

When I looked in the mirror, I kind of blanched. Kairi hadn't let me see in the mirror this morning and had asked me to distinguish how I looked through the expressions of other people. So far, all I was getting were surprised looks from boys, and a few snarky girls who said 'slut' behind my back. First I put my penny board down on the counter before throwing my backpack down.

I'd went through a lot to make myself look this way. Kairi was thrilled that I wanted to change my normal look. Of course, after my huge declaration I'd decided that revealing everything at one was probably a bad idea. It would reveal that I was Witch immediately. Instead, I decided I was going to change up what I was wearing but still keep the wig and the contacts.

I was wearing one of Kairi's white blouses. There was no school-issue blouse, so girls and boys were given some freedom concerning that. The one I was wearing was a plain white, short sleeved, collared shirt tucked into the school-issue blue plaid skirt. It was like dipping a toe into hot water. I'd change things up gradually, and maybe the confidence would come with it. So I had a tighter top, I felt good about it, and I didn't feel overheated.

Sora was casting evil eye on Vanitas and Ventus as they grabbed their lunch and moved to eat on the playground instead of in the cafeteria. That was how they always were, but for some reason Sora seemed especially pissed off.

Riku sighed, "If you're too chicken to confess to him, come up with an elaborate but cliché shenanigan to land him in your path."

Kairi snorted, "You've been watching too many chick flicks lately."

Sora hugged Riku unbearably tight, but that was just how the brunet was, "Brilliant idea, Riku! I'm going to come up with a plan, and then you're going to help me execute it, right?"

"What?"

"Oh, did I use the word 'execute' wrong?"

"What?" he repeated, shaking his head. "No, I'm not going to help you."

"Riku!" Sora whined. "I thought you were my friend."

"Ugh," the silveret groaned, "Sora, I don't want-"

"But it was _your_ idea! C'mon, you know if the roles were reversed then I would totally be helping you out, right?" he widened his eyes, pulling the puppy-dog pout on him.

"Sora, please…" he turned away so he didn't have to look at him. Personally, I thought they were both adorable. I should start a petition for Riku and Sora to be couple of the year in the yearbook. I'm sure I could make it happen. I just needed Riku and Kairi to break up so Sora could see Riku as a possibility.

"Oh, woe is me! I'm doomed to live out the rest of my miserable life alone! Abandoned by _everyone!_ The love of my life, and my _best friend!_ Years of childhood memories and loyalty mean _NOTHING-!_"

"Okay!" Riku exclaimed loudly. "I'll help you."

Sora shrugged, grinning widely, "Well, if you insist, RiRi. Let's change the subject before you get any more grey hairs." Kairi and I laughed loudly. Riku flushed and dragged his hand down his face. "Naminé, how come you didn't change completely?" Sora asked me while I ate my pizza slice.

"You mean the wig, and the rest of my clothes? I think a certain someone would immediately realised who I was if that happened."

"Hi guys," Roxas said, plopping down opposite Naminé next to Sora.

"Hey Roxas. Naminé was just telling us about how she wants to go back to her real hair colour," Kairi said. I narrowed my eyes at her.

"Oh," he said, trying to play nice. I kept my expression stony, refusing to look him in the eye. I hadn't told anyone but Kairi about our sort-of separation, but telling Kairi _was_ telling everyone. "And what is your original hair colour? I remember when we were kids that Kairi used to be… dirty blonde, I think?"

"Yeah, Kairi's dirty blonde. I'm platinum blonde," I supplied, unable to keep the edge out of my voice. Roxas looked at me for a moment, puzzled. I knew he was building the bridge between Witch and I, but he thought I wasn't doing it on purpose because 'technically', I didn't _know_ what Witch looked like. I hadn't been to the party at the beginning of the year.

"I think you look amazing," he said.

I snarled at him.

Kairi pulled me back by some strands. "Settle down, Nami." I panicked because she almost ripped my wig off. I turned back to snarl at her, after which I got up to leave. My eyes felt dry and I needed by irritated eye drops. I didn't realise I'd been followed until it was too late.

"Kairi, I said fuck _off-_" I turned around, surprised, "Roxas…"

"Wow," he looked at me in surprise, probably disgust. "I've never heard you swear before."

"Well," I said, brushing off my skirt, "let's just say that the rejection yesterday has brought out a whole new side of me." I rubbed at my irritated eye.

"Naminé, I don't want you to change because-"

I sighed, "You're not what prompted me to change Roxas. I would have done it if anybody had said that to me. Do you know what it's like? Living in someone's shadow?"

"Well, no."

"No, because you're a rock star. It's what you're used to. But me, being compared to someone… someone like _Witch-_"

"Naminé, don't speak about her that way," he said darkly.

"See? Even now. Even now you're defending her when-" I stopped.

"When _what?_" he demanded angrily. "When what?"

"I'm _better_ than Witch," I practically yelled at him. "Why couldn't you chose _me?_"

"I… Naminé… I'm not sure."

I shook my head and rubbed at my eye again. I felt something on my hand before it fell on the floor. "My contact fell out," I muttered to myself as I knelt down to find it. I sat on the floor and looked for it and Roxas crouched to help me when he looked at me and gasped.

"Your real eye colour is blue?"

I looked up, feeling delicate and beautiful as I blinked my feathery lashes- but I probably looked like a sight because of my temporary heterochromia. I pulled out my other contact and sighed sadly. "Leave me alone, Roxas. I don't want your pity."

**tbc.**


	8. Christmas Hiatus

Hi, guys. Kace here.

Thanks so much for your tremendous help with the story. I'm grateful for every favourite, follow, but _especially _reviewers. You guys light up my life. Honestly.

So I'm going to be taking a short Christmas break from updates. I'm going to be spending the time fixing up the errors in FMD, possibly rewriting and adding scenes in. It's far from perfect, and I'd like to edge it that little bit closer. I hope you understand.

This hiatus ends on the 20th of January, 2014.

Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays.

Cheers!


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